Abstract:

An improved cooperative medium access control (MAC) protocol, called ICoopMAC, is proposed for wireless networks. The protocol adopts a new frame control format and is completely compatible with the legacy 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF). To adapt to dynamical channel variation, joint feedback of instantaneous channel state information from both destination node and relay node is used. Moreover, a new network allocation vector mechanism is adopted to reduce access delay at the stations caused by collisions. It is shown that ICoopMAC can increase the throughput of the whole network and reduce the average packet delay, compared to CoopMAC protocol.

Key words: IEEE 802.11, Cooperation, MAC, NAV