PUMA - a new channel access protocol for wireless LANs

We propose an extension of the IEEE 802.11 DCF (distributed coordination function) protocol (see IEEE 802.11, "Standard for Wireless LAN: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specification", IEEE Inc., 1999) called PUMA (priority unavoidable multiple access). PUMA can easy be implemented in wireless network cards instead of IEEE 802.11 DCF. It has been shown through simulation that PUMA is fair, efficient, stable and allows for provision of time-bounded services. Moreover, its performance is unaffected by hidden stations. The new backoff mechanism called DIDD (double increment double decrement) has been employed to increase the protocol efficiency especially in the case of heavy traffic load and large number of stations. The performance comparison between PUMA and IEEE 802.11 DCF is presented. The obtained results show that PUMA behaves much better than IEEE 802.11 DCF.