A cross-layer framework for position-based routing and medium access control in heterogeneous mobile ad hoc networks

摘要

Many Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are composed of nodes with heterogeneous communication capabilities in terms of transmission power, data rate, battery life, reliability, etc. Heterogeneous MANETS (H-MANETs) often encounter problems in both Medium Access Control (MAC) and routing layers due to link asymmetry. But meanwhile, H-MANETs have many advantages including: scalability, robustness, and connectivity. In this paper we present a two-layer approach which spans the MAC and network layers for H-MANETs to minimize the problems caused by link asymmetry and exploit the advantages of H-MANETs simultaneously. At the network layer, we design a hierarchical Location service (LS) protocol and a node density adaptive position-based routing protocol. At the MAC layer we propose a new MAC protocol which uses two communication channels and closely ties in with the network layer to solve the MAC problems caused by link asymmetry. We evaluate our approach using both probabilistic analysis and simulations.