RMAC: a reliable multicast MAC protocol for wireless ad hoc networks

This work presents a new MAC protocol called RMAC that supports reliable multicast for wireless ad hoc networks. By utilizing the busy tone mechanism to realize multicast reliability, RMAC has the following three novelties: (1) it uses a variable-length control frame to stipulate an order for the receivers to respond, such that the problem of feedback collision is solved; (2) it extends the traditional usage of busy tone for preventing data frame collisions into the multicast scenario; and (3) it introduces a new usage of busy tone for acknowledging data frames. In addition, we also generalize RMAC into a comprehensive MAC protocol that provides both reliable and unreliable services for all the three modes of communications: unicast, multicast, and broadcast. Our evaluation shows that RMAC achieves high reliability with very limited overhead. We also compare RMAC with other reliable multicast MAC protocols, showing that RMAC not only provides higher reliability but also involves lower cost.