Adaptive Backoff Algorithm for IEEE 802.11 DCF under MPR Wireless Channels

As a result of the recent advances in physical (PHY) layer communication techniques, it is possible to receive multiple packets at the receiver concurrently. This capability of a receiver to decode multiple simultaneous transmissions is known as multi-packet reception (MPR). In this paper, we propose a simple Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for an MPR wireless channel, where we modify the backoff procedure as a function of number of ongoing transmissions in the channel. Our protocol is backward compatible with the IEEE 802.11 DCF protocol. The performance analysis of the proposed protocol is carried out using extensive simulations and it is compared with some of the existing MPR MAC protocols. The proposed mechanism improves the throughput and delay performance of the IEEE 802.11 DCF.
Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, Proceedings of 22nd International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN) 2013, Nassau, Bahamas