An Interference-Aware Busy Tone Based MAC Protocol

Exposed and hidden terminal problems decrease the performance of 802.11 MAC protocol in mobile ad hoc network (MANET). We figure out that the two problems are due to a single fundamental reason, that is, 802.11 uses an oversimplified interference model. We propose an interference-aware busy tone based MAC protocol (IABT) to improve the throughput of MANET. Encoding the interference information in the frequency, a busy tone will reserve the space necessary for the ongoing transmission. Our protocol can solve both the hidden and exposed terminal problem simultaneously. Examined by NS2 simulator, the protocol can reduce the MAC collisions and improve the performance substantially