IEEE 802.11 DCF based MAC protocols for multiple beam antennas and their limitations

Abstract

Multiple beam antennas can receive (or transmit) data on multiple beams simultaneously. The aim of this paper is to show the limitations of using IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) based schemes for medium access control (MAC) in such antennas. We provide four different variants of IEEE 802.11 DCF based on-demand protocols to study this phenomenon. Our simulation results and analyses emphasize the need to develop a novel MAC protocol to fully exploit the capabilities of multiple beam antennas. We further provide some embryonic guidelines for the development of such a protocol