Synchronization and packet separation in wireless ad hoc networks by known modulus algorithms

In mobile asynchronous ad hoc networks, multiple users may transmit packets at the same time. If a collision occurs, then in current systems both packets are lost and need to be retransmitted, reducing the overall throughput. To mitigate this, we consider to extend the receiver with a small antenna array, so that it can suppress interfering signals. To characterize the signal of interest, we propose to modulate it at the symbol rate by a known amplitude variation. This allows the corresponding multichannel receiver to estimate the beamformer weights that will suppress the interfering sources. We introduce "known modulus algorithms" to achieve this. We also derive synchronization algorithms to estimate the offset of the desired packet in an observation window, among interfering data packets. The algorithms are illustrated via simulations.