System and method for ad hoc network access employing the distributed election of a shared transmission schedule

• Main Authors: BAO LICHUN, GARCIA-LUNA-ACEVES J.J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 06.06.2002
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

A system and method of providing distributed election of a shared transmission schedule within an ad hoc network. The invention includes a collision-free access protocol which resolves channel access contentions for time division multiple access (TDMA) of a single channel. Time-slots are organized into part numbers, which are included within sections, a sequence of which define a block. Each node is given a ring number according to its location within the network topology and maintains local neighbor information along with its own part number and message digest. Collision-free channel access is automatically scheduled and repetitious contention phases are resolved by a random permutation algorithm operating in message digests. An empty time-slot utilization method is also described and data packets may also be transmitted subject to a non-zero collision probability within a blind section of the block.