Multi-channel medium access control protocol with channel distribution for mobile ad hoc networks

This study proposes a novel multi-channel medium access control protocol for mobile ad hoc networks that enables nodes to transmit packets in distributed channels. In our protocol, the ad hoc traffic indication message window is divided into two windows. The first window is called the deciding channel window (DCW). Source and destination nodes can negotiate with each other in deciding a channel that can be used to compete for the final data channel in the DCW. The second window is called the exchanging packet window (EPW). Pair source and destination nodes can compete to obtain a channel to transfer packets in the EPW. This mechanism can distribute pair source and destination nodes to compete for a data channel. Hence, because of this, collisions can be avoided greatly and throughput can be increased. The simulation results show that our protocol successfully exploits the use of the bandwidth of multiple channels effectively.