Fast Retransmission Scheme for Overcoming Hidden Node Problem in IEEE 802.11 Networks

To avoid collisions, IEEE 802.11 medium access control (MAC) uses predetermined inter-frame spaces and the random back-off process. However, the retransmission strategy of IEEE 802.11 MAC results in considerable time wastage. The hidden node problem is well known in wireless networks; it aggravates the consequences of time wastage for retransmission. Many collision prevention and recovery approaches have been proposed to solve the hidden node problem, but all of them have complex control overhead. In this paper, we propose a fast retransmission scheme as a recovery approach. The proposed scheme identifies collisions caused by hidden nodes and then allows retransmission without collision. Analysis and simulations show that the proposed scheme has greater throughput than request-to-send and clear-to-send (RTS/CTS) and a shorter average waiting time.