Topology-transparent scheduling in mobile multihop ad hoc networks with directional antennas

Abstract

Directional antennas have received much attention recently in multihop ad hoc networks, due to such benefits as increased transmission range, reduced co-channel interference, improved spatial reuse, and reduced susceptibility to jamming. However, existing random access scheduling schemes with directional antennas suffer from the issues of deafness and high probability of collisions. Moreover, such schemes cannot provide throughput and delay guarantees. In this paper, we propose a topology-transparent scheduling algorithm in mobile multihop ad hoc networks with directional antennas, to overcome these deficiencies. The proposed algorithm fully exploits the benefits of directional antennas and utilizes both assigned and unassigned time slots efficiently. We study the performance of our algorithm analytically and by simulation. The results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm, in certain cases, can be comparable to that of some topology-dependent algorithms designed for static networks. Yet, the proposed algorithm also performs well even when the network topology is dynamic, as in mobile networks.