MCMAC A PARALLEL RENDEZVOUS MULTI-CHANNEL MAC PROTOCOL

Abstract- Many multiple channel MAC protocols for wireless networks have been proposed to make efficient use of multiple channels where each node has a single radio which allows it to send or receive on one channel at a time. However, most of the proposed protocols are single rendezvous protocols that are subject to the congestion of the control channel. We propose a new parallel rendezvous protocol, McMAC, to avoid control channel congestion so that it can scale to use a large number of channels efficiently. We validate our protocol design using simulation and implementation. 

INTRODUCTION
Many multi-channel wireless MAC protocols have been proposed to increase the throughput of ad hoc networks. These protocols exploit the availability of multiple disjoint channels (i.e., frequency bands) and the ability of modern radios to switch channels quickly. Using a multi-channel MAC protocol, different devices can transmit in parallel on distinct channels. The parallelism increases throughput and can potentially reduce delay as well, provided channel access time is not excessive.

Protocols differ in how devices negotiate the channel to use and resolve medium contention. Dedicated Control Channel approach designate one channel exclusively for control purposes. Each node listens to that channel to make an agreement. A separate transceiver is used for data transmission. Unlike the Dedicated Control Channel, other approaches typically use only one radio for both control and data packets. For example, for Split-phase protocols, time is split into alternating periods of control and data phases. In a control phase, all devices listen to the control channel to make an  agreement. In the data phase, nodes change to their respective channels negotiated in the previous control phase to exchange data in parallel. In Common-hopping approach, all idle devices hop together over every channel sequentially. They make an agreement as they hop together and pauses only if they have data to exchange. Even though Dedicated Control Channel, Split-phase, and Common Hopping differ in the way nodes make channel agreements, they are all categorized as single rendezvous protocols because at any instance, the rendezvous between a sender and its receiver can happen on at most one channel. 

VIDEO DEMO