MARE: an Efficient Reservation-Based MAC Protocol for IEEE 802.11s Mesh Networks

Mesh networks are gaining momentum. That is why the IEEE is working to develop a standard for this new technology. The IEEE 802.11s draft standard specifies a mandatory MAC protocol (EDCA) and an optional one, called MDA. In this paper we describe potential limitations of MDA and propose an alternative MAC protocol, also based on reservations, called MARE (Medium Access through REservation). We compare MDA and MARE qualitatively in terms of their effectiveness to provide collision-free transmissions to those nodes that successfully reserve the medium. We also compare both protocols in terms of overhead. In both types of comparisons we observe a clear advantage of MARE.