Contention protocols for wireless medium access in communication networks

摘要

Wireless medium access in a communication network having a number of terminals is controlled by defining protocol message units for transmission by a given terminal which units correspond to operational states of at least one of the terminal and the medium. A number of time slots are allocated for transmission of packets from each terminal, and a number of contention opportunities are defined at the beginning of each time slot. Priority and backoff mechanisms are defined and applied at each terminal during the contention opportunities in the slots. Packets are then transmitted by the terminal within the slots while (1) minimizing the occurrence of empty slots at times when packets are available for transmission, and (2) minimizing the number of slots during which two or more packets are detected on the medium simultaneously at the terminal.