TR-MAC: an enhancement of IEEE 802.11 DCF using tacit reservations

Abstract

Presented is a novel MAC protocol based on the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF). It incorporates a new function that allows stations to use tacit reservations for transmissions; thus the stations can avoid random access attempts. Tacit reservation is assumed without any control messages, and it enables contention-free transmissions. The performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated using simulations, and it is shown that it outperforms legacy DCF, DCF with optimal contention window, and ideal DCF with respect to channel utilisation.