MU-FuPlex: A Multiuser Full-Duplex MAC Protocol for the Next Generation Wireless Networks

The ever-increasing data demands and the density of wireless nodes require higher data rate in wireless networks. To satisfy the requirement, it is necessary to propose novel medium access control (MAC) protocols to enhance multiuser channel access and multiuser data transmission in wireless network. The existing studies prove that full-duplex (FD) is able to improve the network capability without any extra bandwidth. However, there are few studies focusing on multiuser FD MAC protocol design for the next generation wireless networks. In this paper, a multiuser FD MAC protocol named as MU-FuPlex is introduced based on our proposed system model, and the interference information collection, FD transmit opportunity (FD-TXOP) mechanism, and frame format design for MU-FuPlex are discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work focusing on the combination of multiuser MAC and FD technology. The simulation results confirm that MU-FuPlex significantly improves the saturation throughput up to 200% compared with IEEE 802.11 DCF.