Performance Analysis of a Cluster-Based MAC Protocol for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

An analytical model to evaluate the non-saturated performance of the Distributed Queuing Medium Access Control Protocol for Ad Hoc Networks (DQMANs) in single-hop networks is presented in this paper. DQMAN is comprised of a spontaneous, temporary, and dynamic clustering mechanism integrated with a near-optimum distributed queuing Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. Clustering is executed in a distributed manner using a mechanism inspired by the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) of the IEEE 802.11. Once a station seizes the channel, it becomes the temporary clusterhead of a spontaneous cluster and it coordinates the peer-to-peer communications between the clustermembers. Within each cluster, a near-optimum distributed queuing MAC protocol is executed. The theoretical performance analysis of DQMAN in single-hop networks under non-saturation conditions is presented in this paper. The approach integrates the analysis of the clustering mechanism into the MAC layer model. Up to the knowledge of the authors, this approach is novel in the literature. In addition, the performance of an ad hoc network using DQMAN is compared to that obtained when using the DCF of the IEEE 802.11, as a benchmark reference.