C-ICAMA, a centralized intelligent channel assigned multiple access for multi-layer ad-hoc wireless networks with UAVs

Multi-layer ad hoc wireless networks with UAVs is an ideal infrastructure to establish a rapidly deployable wireless communication system any time any where in the world for military applications. In this tactical environment, information traffic is quite asymmetric. Ground fighting units are information consumers and receive far more data than they transmit. The up-link is used for sending requests for information and some networking configuration overhead with a few kilobits, while the down-link is used to return the data requested with megabits size (e.g. multimedia file of images and charts). Centralized intelligent channel assigned multiple access (C-ICAMA) is a MAC layer protocol proposed for ground backbone nodes to access UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to solve the highly asymmetric data traffic in this tactical environment. With it's intelligent scheduling algorithm, it can dynamically allocate bandwidth for up-link and downlink to fit the instantaneous status of asymmetric traffic. The results of C-ICAMA is very promising, due to the dynamic bandwidth allocation of asymmetric up-link and down-link, the access delay is tremendously reduced.