A New Scheme to Avoid Collisions for Broadcast Packets in Wireless LANs

This paper proposes a new approach to avoiding collisions for broadcast packets in distributed wireless LANs. The basic idea is to use in-band pulses to convey the medium access control information for broadcast packets. The new approach extends the basic functionality of the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) from the unicast case to the broadcast case and significantly improves the broadcasting efficiency in wireless LANs.