Classified medium access control algorithm (CL-MAC) for enhanced operation of IEEE 802.11 ah

Abstract

We present in this apaper a high level framework of a proposed Medium Access Control Algorithm known as Classified Medium Access Control Algorithm for enhanced operation of IEEE 802.11ah. IEEE 802.11ah is an amendment for the IEEE 802.11 standard known as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) or Wi-Fi network standard. This amendment was mainly established to increase the number of Wi-Fi stations managed by the single Access Point. As more and more number of heterogeneous network stations emerge to also utilize this network, some techniques have been employed to ensure better management of the network but this still remains an open issue that needs to be tackled. This paper presents a hybrid TDMA and CSMA/CA scheme for the channel access in lieu of the default Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) of the WLAN. When compared with the result of the EDCA, the proposed scheme provided a better throughput performance for the IEEE 802.11ah amendment.