ADAPT: a media access control protocol for mobile ad hoc networks using adaptive array antennas

Adaptive array antennas have the ability to respond automatically to an unknown interference environment, in real time, by steering nulls and reducing side lobe levels in the direction of interference, while retaining some desired signal beam characteristics. We present a protocol (ADAPT) that enables nodes in an ad hoc network to utilize adaptive array antennas efficiently to communicate. We compare our adaptive antenna configuration {ADAPT, adaptive array antennas} to both an omni-directional setting {802.11, omni-directional antennas} and a directional one {DMAC protocol, directional antennas} in terms of network throughput and end-to-end delay. The DMAC protocol is described by M. Takai et al. (see Proc. ACM MobiHoc, 2002) and R. Roychoudhury et al. (see Proc. MOBICOM 2002). Our protocol achieves up to a 60% throughput and 2-3 times delay improvement over the omni-directional case and up to a 40% throughput and 55% delay improvement over the directional one, in most scenarios considered.