Countermeasure to hidden terminal problem considering data rate shift algorithm in wireless LAN

Abstract

The hidden terminal problem in wireless local area networks (WLANs) causes packet collisions and thus a significant drop in throughput. To overcome the quality deterioration, adaptive modulation and coding selects the low modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and its protocol is a data rate shift algorithm (DRSA) in WLAN. However, for quality deterioration caused by packet collisions, additional packet collisions occur because of an enlarging packet length composed of the low MCS. This study describes the performance degradation of WLANs due to the hidden terminal problem for the DRSA, and we show that the performance can be improved by designating a higher MCS using an access point. From the experimental evaluation of a WLAN, we confirm the improvement of the throughput due to the prevention of packet collision because the designated higher MCS shortens the packet length.