An efficient and reliable MAC for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

The IEEE 1609.4 is a MAC extension of IEEE 802.11p to support multi-channel operations. All nodes have to tune to the Control Channel (CCH) during the CCH Interval (CCHI) for exchanging safety messages (SMsgs) and other control messages. Nodes can optionally switch to the Service Channels (SCHs) to exchange non-safety messages during the SCH Interval (SCHI). The IEEE 1609.4 cannot utilize all SCHs resource during the CCHI. This paper proposes an Efficient and Reliable MAC protocol for Vehicular Ad hoc Networks, named VER-MAC, which allows nodes to transmit non-safety messages during the CCHI to improve the non-safety throughput and broadcast SMsgs twice during both the CCHI and SCHI to increase the safety broadcast reliability.