An MAC protocol for wireless ad-hoc networks using smart antennas [an read a]

Directional antennas can be used to increase the spatial reuse of wireless channels in multihop wireless ad hoc networks. However, the use of directional antennas may lead to hidden terminal problems due to unheard RTS/CTS and asymmetry in gain. In this paper, we propose a new MAC protocol using smart antennas to overcome the hidden terminal problems. The proposed scheme uses different antenna patterns and gains in transmitting data and RTS/CTS/ACK frames. Simulation results show that the proposed MAC protocol improves the throughput of multihop wireless LANs.