When is the right time to transmit in multi-hop White-Fi?

Abstract

While Western societies are becoming increasingly connected, many developing regions lack basic Internet connectivity, primarily due to the high costs associated with infrastructure deployment and maintenance. Potential exists for the TV white-space (TVWS) wireless technology to bridge this digital divide, though efficient channel access mechanisms suited to multi-hop networks that operate in sub-gigahertz bands are yet to be developed. Using a small test bed, we demonstrate a prototype implementation of a medium access protocol that learns appropriate transmission opportunities in such settings, achieving pseudo-scheduled behaviour ex tempore and providing substantial gains over the de facto IEEE 802.11af protocol.