9,083 research outputs found
Distributed MAC Protocol Supporting Physical-Layer Network Coding
Physical-layer network coding (PNC) is a promising approach for wireless
networks. It allows nodes to transmit simultaneously. Due to the difficulties
of scheduling simultaneous transmissions, existing works on PNC are based on
simplified medium access control (MAC) protocols, which are not applicable to
general multi-hop wireless networks, to the best of our knowledge. In this
paper, we propose a distributed MAC protocol that supports PNC in multi-hop
wireless networks. The proposed MAC protocol is based on the carrier sense
multiple access (CSMA) strategy and can be regarded as an extension to the IEEE
802.11 MAC protocol. In the proposed protocol, each node collects information
on the queue status of its neighboring nodes. When a node finds that there is
an opportunity for some of its neighbors to perform PNC, it notifies its
corresponding neighboring nodes and initiates the process of packet exchange
using PNC, with the node itself as a relay. During the packet exchange process,
the relay also works as a coordinator which coordinates the transmission of
source nodes. Meanwhile, the proposed protocol is compatible with conventional
network coding and conventional transmission schemes. Simulation results show
that the proposed protocol is advantageous in various scenarios of wireless
applications.Comment: Final versio
Fundamentals of Large Sensor Networks: Connectivity, Capacity, Clocks and Computation
Sensor networks potentially feature large numbers of nodes that can sense
their environment over time, communicate with each other over a wireless
network, and process information. They differ from data networks in that the
network as a whole may be designed for a specific application. We study the
theoretical foundations of such large scale sensor networks, addressing four
fundamental issues- connectivity, capacity, clocks and function computation.
To begin with, a sensor network must be connected so that information can
indeed be exchanged between nodes. The connectivity graph of an ad-hoc network
is modeled as a random graph and the critical range for asymptotic connectivity
is determined, as well as the critical number of neighbors that a node needs to
connect to. Next, given connectivity, we address the issue of how much data can
be transported over the sensor network. We present fundamental bounds on
capacity under several models, as well as architectural implications for how
wireless communication should be organized.
Temporal information is important both for the applications of sensor
networks as well as their operation.We present fundamental bounds on the
synchronizability of clocks in networks, and also present and analyze
algorithms for clock synchronization. Finally we turn to the issue of gathering
relevant information, that sensor networks are designed to do. One needs to
study optimal strategies for in-network aggregation of data, in order to
reliably compute a composite function of sensor measurements, as well as the
complexity of doing so. We address the issue of how such computation can be
performed efficiently in a sensor network and the algorithms for doing so, for
some classes of functions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to the Proceedings of the IEE
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