A Novel Distributed Asynchronous Multichannel MAC Scheme for Large-Scale Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

This paper proposes a novel distributed asynchronous multichannel medium access control (MAC) scheme for large-scale vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), i.e., asynchronous multichannel medium access control with a distributed time-division multiple-access mechanism (AMCMAC-D). The proposed scheme supports simultaneous transmissions on different service channels while allowing rendezvous and broadcast of emergency messages on the control channel. The scheme is distributed, because it handles access to the shared control channel for different access categories without relying on the beacon frames from roadside units. This condition eliminates the overhead that is associated with channel allocation, making the proposed scheme suitable for large-scale networks in terms of the number of active nodes. Service differentiation in the proposed scheme is enhanced by allocating different numbers of time slots for different access categories. We compare the performance of the proposed scheme with the IEEE 1609.4 standard and the asynchronous multichannel Coordination Protocol (AMCP) in terms of throughput, packet delivery rate, collision rate, utilization of service channels, service differentiation, and the penetration rate of noncollided emergency messages. The results show that AMCMAC-D outperforms the IEEE 1609.4 standard and AMCP in terms of system throughput by increasing the utilization of the control channel and service channels. The proposed scheme also demonstrates better performance in terms of packet delivery rate, collision rate on a service channel, load balancing, and service differentiation. Finally, AMCMAC-D mitigates the multichannel hidden terminal and missing receiver problems, which occur in asynchronous multichannel MAC schemes.