TrackMAC: An IEEE 802.11ad-compatible beam tracking-based MAC protocol for 5G millimeter-wave local area networks

This paper presents a novel framework for MAC design for millimeter-wave (mm-wave) mobile wireless networks. Specifically, we consider an infrastructure wireless network in which both the Access Point (AP) and the mobile stations (STAs) communicate in the 60GHz band. In order to overcome the high path loss that is characteristic of mm-wave frequencies, both the transmitter as well as the receivers employ beamforming and use highly directional beams for transmission and reception. In such a scenario, traditional Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols such as CSMA/CA, which rely on the omni-directional nature of transmissions, may no longer be viable for efficient medium access control. It is necessary for the AP to know the directions that the associated STAs are in so that it can steer its transmissions to an intended receiver in that receiver's direction. In light of this, we propose TrackMAC, a directional MAC protocol that (i) has the property that it continuously tracks the direction of every associated station which, in general, is mobile, and (ii) can be implemented squarely within the specifications of the IEEE 802.11ad standard for mm-wave Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). The efficacy of the proposed architecture is demonstrated using computer simulations.