Channel reservation media access control protocol using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

摘要

A contention resolution media access control protocol for a local area network (LAN) using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The protocol takes advantage of OFDM frames available on the channel physical layer. Each LAN node is assigned a LAN-unique node identifier that is the index of a Fast-Fourier transform (FFT) frequency bin or other discrete tone in the free band. The node identifier is played in each contention cycle by each node that has data to transmit. Each contending node can easily determine which nodes are contending for transfer of data over the media channel from the presence of node identifiers within distinct frequency bins. Contention for the media channel is resolved by each contending node being giving access to the media channel in accordance with a preset order in which contending nodes will transmit.