Comparative Analysis of Co-operative MAC Schemes

The inherent broadcast nature of wireless signals, is responsible for causing interference in various data transmissions. But, when this nature is exploited, the neighboring stations can overhear the data transmissions destined for a particular node. When these neighboring stations help the transmissions by taking a high data rate path instead of the low data rate path, then such a scheme is called a co-operative transmission scheme. The co-operative scheme always promises a higher throughput and lower delay performances. This paper throws a light on the various medium access control (MAC) co-operative protocols developed and at the end, a rigorous comparative study of the features is performed to give a better understanding.