A QoS-Based MAC Protocol for Ad Hoc WLANs

Differentiated services provision is essential for satisfactory performance of ad hoc wireless local area networks (WLAN) carrying applications with different requirements. The IEEE 802.11 protocol, as the dominating standard, does not support differentiated services in its original ad hoc mode of operation, distributed coordination function (DCF). In this paper, a new access protocol is proposed which seamlessly sits on top of and is completely compatible with the IEEE 802.11's DCF and point coordination function (PCF). The new access protocol can successfully prioritize the traffic according to a pre-defined cost function using a burst of black slots. Performance analysis together with comprehensive simulation studies show improved performance, fairness, and differentiation capability over IEEE 802.11.