Enhanced cooperative communication MAC for mobile wireless networks

In this paper, we propose a new MAC (medium access control) protocol called enhanced cooperative communication MAC (ECCMAC) based on IEEE 802.11. The major objective of ECCMAC is to maximize the benefits of cooperative communication. We first propose a scheme for selecting and maintaining the best relay node. Second, since both cooperative communication and network coding rely on the selection of a relay node, we consider exploiting a network coding technique for additional throughput improvement. Third, to accommodate asymmetric link rates between a sender and a relay node, we employ ECCMAC to measure forward and reverse link rates, whereas prior works have simply assumed symmetric rates. ECCMAC is evaluated in this paper through theoretical analysis, extensive simulation, and simulation with measured data, and the results show that ECCMAC effectively improves wireless network performance.