IO-MAC: An Enhancement of IEEE 802.11 DCF Using Implicit Ordering

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel medium access control protocol which is based on the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) and embeds new capability allowing stations to make use of implicit ordering for transmissions. Using them, stations may avoid random access attempts. Implicit ordering is assumed without any control messages and enables contention-free transmissions. We evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol by simulation and show that the proposed protocol outperforms both the legacy DCF and the ideal DCF with respect to the channel utilization.