TRUMP: Efficient and Flexible Realization of Medium Access Control Protocols for Wireless Networks

In order to cope with the increasing complexity of wireless networks, dynamic spectrum access, and varying application needs, fast and flexible reconfiguration of protocol stack is desired. Since Medium Access Control (MAC) layer plays a pivotal role in providing efficient spectrum sharing and utilization, rapid on-the-fly reconfigurability of MAC protocols is highly important. We have designed and implemented TRUMP: a Toolchain for RUntiMe Protocol realization. Based on the component-oriented design approach, TRUMP allows runtime realization, reconfiguration, and optimization of MAC layer according to the varying application requirements, spectral environmental, and network conditions. TRUMP, with a platform-independent MAC meta-language, also enables rapid MAC prototyping. In this article, we carry out a detailed performance evaluation of MAC schemes realized through TRUMP on WARP SDR platform. Our results indicate that TRUMP allows reconfiguration of MAC schemes in the order of a few microseconds, thus meeting the strict timeliness requirements of MAC processing. We also present application examples to highlight capabilities of TRUMP.