Ad Hoc Networks : Technologies and Protocols - University of ...
Ad Hoc Networks : Technologies and Protocols - University of ...
Ad Hoc Networks : Technologies and Protocols - University of ...
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208 Use <strong>of</strong> Smart Antennas in <strong>Ad</strong> <strong>Hoc</strong> <strong>Networks</strong><br />
direction only if it is. The width <strong>of</strong> DNAV is dictated by the beamwidth scoped<br />
by the underlying directional antenna. If this beamwidth can be dynamically<br />
changed, the DNAV would take this into account.<br />
The performance studies in [14] show that the use <strong>of</strong> DVCS can provide up<br />
to a threefold or fourfold increase in network capacity (measured in terms<br />
<strong>of</strong> throughput) as compared to the IEEE 802.11 protocol used with omnidirectional<br />
antennas. They also do additional simulation experiments to study<br />
the behavior <strong>of</strong> the scheme in the presence <strong>of</strong> some nodes that are simply capable<br />
<strong>of</strong> omni-directional transmissions <strong>and</strong> they find that there is still a benefit<br />
in using DVCS (only nodes equipped with directional antennas use DVCS).<br />
7.3.5 The impact <strong>of</strong> increased directional range<br />
The work in [14] assumes that the directional range is equal to the omnidirectional<br />
range. However, as mentioned earlier, in reality, the directional<br />
range might be much higher than the omni-directional range. This is actually<br />
beneficial since network partitions that may actually occur with the use <strong>of</strong><br />
omni-directional antennas could be potentially bridged by the use <strong>of</strong> directional<br />
antennas. Furthermore, since the range is longer, one can now potentially<br />
compute shorter routes which can lead to improved efficiency.<br />
However, the medium access control protocol discussed earlier has certain<br />
problems when an extended directional range is considered. In [6], Roy Choudhury,<br />
Yang, Ramanathan <strong>and</strong> Vaidya look at these problems in depth. They call<br />
the basic medium access control protocol the Directional MAC or DMAC protocol;<br />
the protocol is similar to the protocol described in [14]. The protocol<br />
assumes that nodes are aware <strong>of</strong> the locations <strong>of</strong> their neighbors. When idle<br />
they listen in the omni-directional mode. However, when a node intends to<br />
transmit a message it transmits a directional RTS message towards the intended<br />
neighbor. A directional CTS is sent in response. Both directional transmissions<br />
<strong>and</strong> directional receptions are employed for the exchange <strong>of</strong> the DATA <strong>and</strong> the<br />
ACK messages. Overhearing nodes update their directional network allocation<br />
vectors as in the protocol in [14].<br />
The basic DMAC suffers from a number <strong>of</strong> problems due to the directional<br />
nature <strong>of</strong> the communications <strong>and</strong> the increased directional range. Note here<br />
that if the gain <strong>of</strong> the omni-directional antenna is <strong>and</strong> the gain <strong>of</strong> the directional<br />
antenna for a given beamwidth is then Furthermore, if<br />
one were to deploy directional transmissions but omni-directional receptions,<br />
the total gain seen is On the other h<strong>and</strong>, if one were to deploy both<br />
directional transmissions <strong>and</strong> directional receptions the gain observed would<br />
be<br />
In order to underst<strong>and</strong> the problems, we consider the scenario shown in<br />
Figure 7.5. The scenario is similar to the one considered in [6]. First we