Enhanced MAC layer protocol for millimeter wave based WPAN

The IEEE 802.15.3 standard defines a widely-accepted MAC layer protocol for high data rate WPANs. However, resource allocation schemes are not specified in the IEEE 802.15.3 MAC. In this paper, an enhanced IEEE 802.15.3 MAC is proposed for 60 GHz based WPANs. The enhancement relies on a novel resource management scheme. By exploiting the advanced features of the 60 GHz technology, e.g. the usage of direction antennas, our resource management scheme could realize spatial reuse TDMA in 60 GHz based WPANs. We have implemented our protocol in OPNET. Based on this simulation platform we have evaluated the advantages of using our additions to the IEEE 802.15.3 MAC. We show that our enhanced MAC protocol significantly improves the throughput and delay characteristics in 60 GHz based WPANs.