WirelessMAC.ppt

* Simplest CSMA Scheme Send a packet as soon as medium becomes idle On sensing busy Wait for idle → persistent Set a timer and try later → non-persistent Problem with persistent: two stations waiting to speak will collide * Applies to slotted channels A waiting station does not launch a packet immediately when the channel becomes idle p: probability of sending a packet when the medium becomes idle First toss a coin, and send a packet only if the coin comes up heads If the coin comes up tails, the station waits for some time (defers until the next slot), then repeats the process Hard to choose p if p small, then waste time if p large, more collisions Best p depends on the number of contending nodes Reducing Collision Probability: p-Persistent CSMA * Handling the Collision Problem: Exponential Backoff Each station, after transmitting a packet, checks whether the packet transmission is successful On collision, choose timeout randomly from doubled range Backoff range adapts to number of contending stations No need to choose p Need to detect collisions: collision detect circuit → CSMA/CD (collision detection) * Difference Between Wired and Wireless If both A and C sense the channel to be idle at the same time, they send at the same time Collision can be detected at the sender in Ethernet Half-duplex radios cannot detect collision at the sender A B C A B C Ethernet LAN Wireless LAN * Used in wireless LANs Cannot detect collision because transmitter overwhelms colocated receiver Need explicit acks (acknowledgments) This makes collisions more expensive Should reduce the number of collisions CSMA/CA (Collision Avoidance) * CSMA/CA Algorithm First check if the medium is busy If so, wait for the medium to become idle Wait for interframe spacing Set a contention timer to an interval randomly chosen in the range [1, CW] On timeout, send packet and wait for ack If no ack, assume packet loss Double CW, then repeat the above steps to retransmit If another station transmits while c