Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

MAC protocol for cooperative networks, design challenges, and implementations: a survey

  • Published:
Telecommunication Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cooperative communication has drawn considerable attention from the wireless research community given the efficient and optimal utilization of constraint resources in dynamic wireless networks. In this study, we conduct a review of extant literature based on protocol classification. We further classify existing cooperative medium access control (CMAC) protocols based on target objective orientation and show the relay selection robustness of these protocols to network requirements. Ultimately, we identify the design and implementation challenges facing CMAC protocols and present certain open research issues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gesbert, D., Bolcskei, H., Gore, D., & Paulraj A. (2000). MIMO wireless channels: Capacity and performance prediction. In Proceedings IEEE global telecommunication conference GTC. (pp. 1083–1088).

  2. Shen, W. L., Lin, K. C. J., Cheng, W. J., Qiu, L., & Chen, M. S. (2016). Concurrent packet recovery for distributed uplink multiuser MIMO networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 15(12), 3014–3027.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Valli, R., & Dananjayan, P. (2012). Utility-based power control with different deployment schemes in virtual MIMO Wireless Sensor Network. Proceedings IEEE international conference on advanced engineering science management ICAESM (pp. 417–422).

  4. Laneman, J. N., Tse, D. N. C., & Wornell, G. W. (2004). Cooperative diversity in wireless networks: Efficient protocols and outage behavior. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 50(12), 3062–3080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Sendonaris, A., Erkip, E., & Aazhang, B. (2003). User cooperation diversity-part I: System description. IEEE Transaction on Communication, 51(11), 1927–1938.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Nosratinia, A., Hunter, T. E., & Hedayat, A. (2004). Cooperative communication in wireless networks. IEEE Communication Magazine, 42(10), 74–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bletsas, A., Shin, H., & Win, M. Z. (2007). Cooperative communication with outage-optimal opportunistic relaying. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 6(9), 3450–3460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Shan, H., Zhuang, W., & Cheng, H. T. (2010). Cross-layer protocol design for distributed wireless networks with novel relay selection. Proceedings IEEE global telecommunications conference GTC (pp. 1–6).

  9. Liu, F., Korakis, T., Tao, Z., & Panwar, S. S. (2008). A MAC-PHY cross-layer protocol for ad hoc wireless networks. Proceedings IEEE wireless communications and networking conference WCNC (pp. 1792–1797).

  10. Liu, P., Tao, Z., Narayanan, S., Korakis, T., & Panwar, S. S. (2007). CoopMAC: A cooperative MAC for wireless LANs. IEEE Journal of Selected Areas Communications, 25(2), 340–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gokturk, M. S., & Gurbuz, O. (2009). Cooperative MAC protocol with distributed relay actuation. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference WCNC (pp. 1–6).

  12. Zhu, H., & Cao, G. (2006). rDCF?: A relay-enabled medium access control protocol for wireless ad hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 5(9), 1201–1214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Sami, M., Noordin, N. K., Khabazian, M., Hashim, F., & Subramaniam, S. (2016). A survey and taxonomy on medium access control strategies for cooperative communication in wireless networks: Research issues and challenges. IEEE Communications Survey Tutorials, 18(4), 2493–2521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ju, P. J., Song, W., & Zhou, D. Z. (2013). Survey on cooperative medium access control protocols. IET Communications, 7(9), 893–902.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. IEEE Standard 802.11 g-2003: Information technology– Local and metropolitan area networks—Part II: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (Mac) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications—Amendment 4: Further Higher Data Rate Extension in the 2.4 GHz Band,ISO/IEC 8802-11:2005/Amd.4:2006(E) IEEE Std 802.11 g-2003 (Amendment to IEEE Std 802.11-1999) (pp. 1–87).

  16. Goldsmith, A. (2004). Wireless communications. Stanford: Stanford University.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Papadogiannis, A., & Svensson, T. (2012). Performance analysis of centralized relay selection with unreliable control information, Proceedings IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference VTC (pp. 1–5).

  18. Moh, S., & Yu, C. (2011). A cooperative diversity-based robust MAC protocol in wireless ad hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 22(3), 353–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Liu, X., Chen, C., Huang, A., & Zhou, Q. F. (2015). A new TDMA-based Cooperative MAC Scheme. Proceedings of IEEE 22nd international conference on telecommunications ICT (pp. 48–53).

  20. Lee, J., Noh, H., & Lim, J. (2014). TDMA-based cooperative MAC protocol for multi-hop relaying networks. IEEE Communications Letters, 18(3), 435–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhang, R., Cheng, X., Yang, L., Shen, X., & Jiao, B. (2015). A novel centralized TDMA-based scheduling protocol for vehicular networks. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 16(1), 411–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Amin, A., Jalil, S. H., & Farshad, L. (2015). Performance analysis of ad-hoc routing in heterogeneous clustered multi-hop wireless networks. Computer Networks, 80, 143–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Haixia, C., Gang, W., Gaoyong, L., Yongcong, Y., & Wenlou, L. (2013). Performance analysis of ARQ cooperative diversity systems with multiple two-hop relays over Rayleigh fading channels. Computers, and Electrical Engineering, 39, 1399–1408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hong, Y. P. P., Lin, C. K., & Wang, S. H. (2010). Exploiting cooperative advantages in slotted Aloha random access networks. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 56(8), 3828–3846.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Sakakibara, K., & Taketsugu, J. (2012). Bistable region of backoff algorithms with contention window in slotted ALOHA systems. IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Telecommunications, 9–14.

  26. Meloni, A., & Murroni, M. (2013). Average power limitations in sliding window contention resolution diversity slotted Aloha, Proceedings of IEEE 9th international wireless communications on mobile computing conference IWCMC (pp. 7–12).

  27. Shijun, L., Kewei, L., Jianmin, X., Jianghong, S., & Xijun, W. (2016). Cooperative mechanism for PNC two-hop slotted ALOHA network. International Journal of Electronics and Communications, 70, 662–667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Chou, C. T., Yang, J., & Wang, D. (2007). Cooperative MAC protocol with automatic relay selection in distributed wireless networks. In Proceedings of IEEE 5th international conference on pervasive computing communications ICPCC (pp. 526–531).

  29. He, X. & Li, F. Y. (2009). Cooperative RTS/CTS MAC with relay selection in distributed wireless networks. In Proceedings of IEEE international conference on ultra modern telecommunications and workshops ICUMTW (pp. 1–8).

  30. Lin, I., Sekiya, M., & Sasase, I. (2012). Cooperative MAC protocol with distributed relay selection using group-based probabilistic contention. In Proceedings IEEE 18th Asian Pacific conference on communications APCC (pp. 436–441).

  31. Adam, H., Yamnaz, E., & Bettstetter, C. (2014). Medium access with adaptive relay selection in cooperative wireless networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 13(9), 2042–2057.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Feng, J., Zhang, R., Ng, S. X., & Hanzo, L. (2011). Relay selection for energy-efficient cooperative media access control,” Proceedings of IEEE wireless communications on networking conference WCNC (pp. 287–292).

  33. Jamal, T., & Mendes, P. (2014). Cooperative relaying for wireless local area networks. Wireless Networking for Mobile Objects, 8611, 50–69.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Wang, X., & Li, J. (2015). Improving the network lifetime of MANETs through cooperative MAC protocol design. IEEE Transactions on Parallel Distributed Systems, 26(4), 1010–1020.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang, X., Li, J., & Tang, F. (2014). Network coding-aware cooperative mac protocol for wireless ad hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 25(1), 167–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Sarper, G. M., Ozgur, G., & Murat, E. (2016). A practical cross-layer cooperative MAC framework for WSNs. Computer Networks, 98, 57–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Kai, L., Shan, W., Bo, H., Feng, L., & Zhen, X. (2016). A power-optimized cooperative MAC protocol for lifetime extension in wireless sensor networks. Sensor, 16, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Shamna, H. R., & Jacob, L. (2017). An energy and throughput efficient distributed cooperative MAC protocol for multihop wireless networks. Computer Networks, 126, 15–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Zhou, Y., Liu, J., Zheng, L., Zhai, & Chen, H. (2011). Link-utility-based cooperative mac protocol for wireless multi-hop networks. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 10(3), 995–1005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Zhuang, W., & Ismail, M. (2012). Cooperation in wireless communication networks. IEEE Wireless Communications, 19(2), 10–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Zhuang, W., & Zhou, Y. (2013). A survey of cooperative MAC protocols for mobile communication networks. Journal of Internet Technology, 4(4), 541–558.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Gómez-Cuba, F., Asorey-Cacheda, R., & González-Castaño, F. J. (2012). A survey on cooperative diversity for wireless networks. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 14(3), 822–835.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Sadeghi, R., Barraca, J. P., & Aguiar, R. L. (2016). A survey on cooperative MAC protocols in IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Wireless Personal Communication, 95, 1469–1493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Ibrahim, A. S., Sadek, A. K., Su, W., & Liu, K. J. R. (2008). Cooperative communications with relay selection: When to cooperate and whom to cooperate with? IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 7(7), 2814–2827.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Crismani, A., Babich, F., & Hanzo, L. (2010). Cross-layer solutions for cooperative Medium Access Control protocols. In Proceedings of IEEE 71st vehicular technology conference VTC (pp. 1–5).

  46. Hoang, Q. T., & Tran, X. N. (2014). Improved cross-layer cooperative MAC protocol for wireless ad hoc networks. Proceedings IEEE signal and information processing association annual summit and conference SIPAASC (pp. 1–7).

  47. Ahmed, M. H. U., Hong, C. S., & Lee, S. (2014). Energy efficient smart-relay-based cooperative MAC for wireless networks. Computing, 96(2), 133–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Xiaoying, Z., Lei, G., Alagan, A., & Ahmed, S. K. (2017). Performance of Energy efficient cooperative MAC protocol with power backoff in MANETs. Wireless Personal Communication, 92, 843–861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Kannan, L. N., Vijayasankar, K., ChanneGowda, D., Agarwal, N., Tacca, M., & Fumagalli, A. (2009). Could cooperative MAC protocols improve performance in multi-hop wireless ad-hoc networks?. In Proceedings of IEEE 6th international conference on wireless on-demand networking systems services ICWDNSS (pp. 237–242).

  50. Gao, T., & Carrasco, R. (2009). CRBAR: Cooperative relay-based auto rate MAC for multi-rate wireless networks. IEEE Transaction on Wireless Communications, 8(12), 5933–5947.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Holland, G., Vaidya, N., & Bahl, P. (2001). A relay adaptive MAC protocol for multihop wireless networks. Proceedings mobile communications MOBICOM’01 (pp. 239–250).

  52. Munari, A., Rossetto, F., & Zorzi, M. (2009). Phoenix: Making cooperation more efficient through network coding in wireless networks. IEEE Transaction on Wireless Communications, 8(10), 5248–5258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Mahmoud, S., Nor, K. N., Fazirulhysian, H., Shamala, S., & Ayyoub, A. M. (2015). An energy-aware cross-layer cooperative MAC protocol for wireless ad-hoc networks. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 58, 227–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Abuzainab, N., & Ephremides, A. (2012). Energy efficiency of cooperative relaying over a wireless link. IEEE Transaction on Wireless Communications, 11, 2076–2083.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Mahasukhon, P., Hempel, M., Zhou, T., Sharif, H., Ma, T., & Wang, W. (2011). A novel adaptive distributed cooperative relaying MAC protocol for vehicular networks. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 29(1), 72–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Kai, L., Xiaoying, C., Feng, L., Xin, W., & Athanasios, V. (2015). A cooperative MAC protocol with rapid relay selection for wireless ad-hoc networks. Computer Networks, 91, 262–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Khalid, M., Wang, Y., Ra, I., & Sankar, R. (2011). Two-relay based cooperative MAC protocol for wireless ad hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 60(7), 3361–3373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Antonopoulos, A., Verikoukis, C., Skianis, C., & Akan, O. B. (2013). Energy efficient network coding-based MAC for cooperative ARQ wireless networks. Ad Hoc Networks., 11, 190–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Uysal, M. (2010). Cooperative communications for improved wireless network transmission: Framework for virtual antenna array applications. New York: Information Science Reference.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  60. Savo, G. G. (2009). Advanced wireless networks: 4G technologies. West Sussex, England: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Meshkati, F., Poor, H. V., & Schwartz, S. C. (2007). Energy-efficient resource allocation in wireless networks: An overview of game-theoretic approaches, Electronic Engineering, 1–21.

  62. Mehta, S., & Kwak, K. (2010). An energy-efficient MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks: A game theoretic approach. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communication and Networking, 10(1), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Li, Y., Liu, K., & Liu, F. (2013). CRP-CMAC: A priority-differentiated cooperative MAC protocol with contention resolution for multi-hop wireless networks. KSII Transaction on Internet Information Systems, 7, 2636–2656.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Yang, H., Shen, H., & Sikdar, B. (2013). An energy saving throughput-optimal MAC protocol for cooperative MIMO transmissions. IEEE Transaction on Communications, 61, 4899–4909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Pathmasuntharam, J. S. (2005). Efficient multi-rate relaying (EMR) MAC protocol for ad hoc networks. Proceedings of IEEE international conference on communications ICC (pp. 2947–2951).

  66. Alocious, C., & Christianson, B. (2015). Analysis of DoS attacks at MAC layer in mobile ad-hoc networks. Proceedings of IEEE international wireless communication and mobile computing IWCMC (pp. 811–816).

  67. Salik, M., Ankur, C., Naveen, R., Thanasis, K., Zhifeng, T., & Shivendra, P. (2008). Security implication of cooperative communications in wireless networks. In IEEE Samoff Symposium (pp. 1–6).

  68. Eirini, K & Anastasios, A. E. (2012). Wireless sensor network security visualization. In IEEE 4th international workshop on mobile computing and networking technologies (pp. 850–856).

  69. Vallam, R. D., Franklin, A. A., & Murthy, C. S. R. (2008). Modelling cooperative MAC layer misbehavior in IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks with heterogeneous loads. In Proceedings of IEEE 6th international symposium on modelling and optimization in mobile ad-hoc and wireless networks and workshops (pp. 197–206).

  70. Yu, F. R., Tang, H., Bu, S., & Zheng, D. (2013). Security and quality of service (QoS) co-design in cooperative mobile ad hoc networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 13(1), 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Ju, P., & Song, W. (2016). Repeated game analysis for cooperative MAC with incentive design for wireless networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 65(7), 5045–5059.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Hai-Yan, S., Wan-Liang, W., Ngai-Ming, K., & Sheng-Yong, C. (2012). Game theory for wireless sensor networks: A survey. Sensors, 12, 9055–9097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Schenk, T. (2008). RF imperfections in high-rate wireless systems: Impact and digital compensation. Netherlands: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  74. Bjornson, E., Matthaiou, M., & Debbah, M. (2013). A new look at dual-hop relaying: Performance limits with hardware impairments. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 61(11), 4512–4525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. Qi, J., Aissa, S., & Alouini, M. (2014). Dual-hop amplify-and-forward cooperative relaying in the presence of transmitter and receiver in-phase and quadrature phase imbalance. IET Communications, 8(3), 287–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Seri Ampangan, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

    Damilare Oluwole Akande, Mohd Fadzli Mohd Salleh & Festus Kehinde Ojo

Authors
  1. Damilare Oluwole Akande
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohd Fadzli Mohd Salleh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Festus Kehinde Ojo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohd Fadzli Mohd Salleh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Akande, D.O., Salleh, M.F.M. & Ojo, F.K. MAC protocol for cooperative networks, design challenges, and implementations: a survey. Telecommun Syst 69, 95–111 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-018-0427-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-018-0427-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation