OPTIMIZING POSITIONS OF TIME SLOTS IN A HYBRID TIME DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (TDMA)-CARRIER SENSE MULTIPLE ACCESS (CSMA) MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL (MAC) FOR MULTI-HOP AD HOC NETWORKS

摘要

A hybrid TDMA-CSMA MAC protocol is provided for allocating time slots within a frame having a structure in which transmission time is divided into a first number of actual TDMA time slots and a second number of "virtual" CSMA time slots. Each time a given node receives a Hello message, it can calculate variables based on an HSN field. A ratio of the first number to the second number can be dynamically adjusted depending upon the traffic conditions. When TDMA time slots within the frame are freed (e.g., no longer being used), slot position optimization techniques are provided for moving these freed TDMA time slots back into the CSMA portion of the frame and reallocating or moving other TDMA time slots into the portion of the frame that was previously occupied by the freed TDMA time slots to thereby maximize resource utilization.