A Highly Reusable Code Assignment Approach with Modified Busy Tone Signaling for CDMA-Based Ad Hoc Networks

Medium access control (MAC) protocol is among the most active topics of research in ad hoc networks. With the CDMA-based MAC protocol the code allocation plays an important role and has significant impact on the protocol performance. In this paper, we propose a distributed CDMA code assignment protocol for the mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The protocol is mainly composed of (1) a modified busy tone signaling mechanism that protects on-going data transmission as well as distributes code usage information, and (2) a set of specially designed code selection rules that work by taking into consideration whether relevant nodes are in the transmitting or receiving state. By combining the two proposed schemes with the conventional request-to-send (RTS)/clear-to-send (CTS) dialogue and power control mechanism, our protocol is able to increase CDMA code reusability. The simulation results indicate that the proposed protocol indeed performs better than the static and dynamic code assignment methods (either with or without power control) in terms of successful transmission rate and successful code assignment rate. And instead of sending continuously, the proposed modified busy tone mechanism only issues busy tone signal in randomly selected cycles, which may save battery energy as compared to conventional busy tone implementations. Moreover, the proposed code selection rules and the modified busy tone signaling may also be integrated into existing MAC protocols, either separately or in combination.