The popularity of ubiquitous Internet services has spurred the fast growth of wireless communications by launching data hungry multimedia applications to mobile devices. Powered by spectrum agile cognitive radios, the newly emerged cognitive radio networks (CRN) are proposed to provision the efficient spectrum reuse to improve spectrum utilization. Unlicensed users in CRN, or secondary users (SUs), access the temporarily idle channels in a secondary and opportunistic fashion while preventing harmful interference to licensed primary users (PUs). To effectively detect and exploit the spectrum access opportunities released from a wide spectrum, the heterogeneous wireless channel characteristics and the underlying prioritized spectrum reuse features need to be considered in the protocol design and resource management schemes in CRN, which plays a critical role in unlicensed spectrum sharing among multiple users. The purpose of this dissertation is to address the challenges of utilizing heterogeneous wireless channels in CRN by its intrinsic dynamic and diverse natures, and build the efficient, scalable and, more importantly, practical dynamic spectrum access mechanisms to enable the cost-effective transmissions for unlicensed users. Note that the spectrum access opportunities exhibit the diversity in the time/frequency/space domain, secondary transmission schemes typically follow three design principles including 1) utilizing local free channels within short transmission range, 2) cooperative and opportunistic transmissions, and 3) effectively coordinating transmissions in varying bandwidth. The entire research work in this dissertation casts a systematic view to address these principles in the design of the routing protocols, medium access control (MAC) protocols and radio resource management schemes in CRN. Specifically, as spectrum access opportunities usually have small spatial footprints, SUs only communicate with the nearby nodes in a small area. Thus, multi-hop transmissions in CRN are considered in this dissertation to enable the connections between any unlicensed users in the network. CRN typically consist of intermittent links of varying bandwidth so that the decision of routing is closely related with the spectrum sensing and sharing operations in the lower layers. An efficient opportunistic cognitive routing (OCR) scheme is proposed in which the forwarding decision at each hop is made by jointly considering physical characteristics of spectrum bands and diverse activities of PUs in each single band. Such discussion on spectrum aware routing continues coupled with the sensing selection and contention among multiple relay candidates in a multi-channel multi-hop scenario. An SU selects the next hop relay and the working channel based upon location information and channel usage statistics with instant link quality feedbacks. By evaluating the performance of the routing protocol and the joint channel and route selection algorithm with extensive simulations, we determine the optimal channel and relay combination with reduced searching complexity and improved spectrum utilization. Besides, we investigate the medium access control (MAC) protocol design in support of multimedia applications in CRN. To satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements of heterogeneous applications for SUs, such as voice, video, and data, channels are selected to probe for appropriate spectrum opportunities based on the characteristics and QoS demands of the traffic along with the statistics of channel usage patterns. We propose a QoS-aware MAC protocol for multi-channel single hop scenario where each single SU distributedly determines a set of channels for sensing and data transmission to satisfy QoS requirements. By analytical model and simulations, we determine the service differentiation parameters to provision multiple levels of QoS. We further extend our discussion of dynamic resource management to a more practical deployment case. We apply the experiences and skills learnt from cognitive radio study to cellular communications. In heterogeneous cellular networks, small cells are deployed in macrocells to enhance link quality, extend network coverage and offload traffic. As different cells focus on their own operation utilities, the optimization of the total system performance can be analogue to the game between PUs and SUs in CRN. However, there are unique challenges and operation features in such case. We first present challenging issues including interference management, network coordination, and interworking between cells in a tiered cellular infrastructure. We then propose an adaptive resource management framework to improve spectrum utilization and mitigate the co-channel interference between macrocells and small cells. A game-theory-based approach is introduced to handle power control issues under constrained control bandwidth and limited end user capability. The inter-cell interference is mitigated based upon orthogonal transmissions and strict protection for macrocell users. The research results in the dissertation can provide insightful lights on flexible network deployment and dynamic spectrum access for prioritized spectrum reuse in modern wireless systems. The protocols and algorithms developed in each topic, respectively, have shown practical and efficient solutions to build and optimize CRN.

La presente tesis doctoral contribuye a la incesante evolución de las comunicaciones inalámbricas. Se centra en el diseño de protocolos de acceso al medio (MAC) para redes ad hoc y redes inalámbricas cooperativas. En una primera parte introductoria se presenta un minucioso estado del arte y se establecen las bases teóricas de las contribuciones presentadas en la tesis. En esta primera parte introductoria se definen las principales motivaciones de la tesis y se plantean los objetivos. Después, las contribuciones de la tesis se organizan en dos grandes bloques, o partes. En la primera parte de esta tesis se diseña, analiza y evalúa el rendimiento de un novedoso protocolo MAC de alta eficiencia llamado DQMAN (Protocolo MAC basado en colas distribuidas para redes ad hoc). Este protocolo constituye la extensión y adaptación del protocolo DQCA, diseñado para redes centralizadas, para operar en redes sin infraestructura. En DQMAN se introduce un nuevo paradigma en el campo del acceso al medio para redes distribuidas: la integración de un algoritmo de clusterización espontáneo y dinámico basado en una estructura de master y esclavo junto con un protocolo MAC de alta eficiencia diseñado para redes centralizadas. Tanto el análisis teórico como las simulaciones por ordenador presentadas en esta tesis muestran que DQMAN mejora el rendimiento del actual estándar IEEE 802.11. La principal característica de DQMAN es que se comporta como un protocolo de acceso aleatorio cuando la carga de tráfico es baja y cambia automática y transparentemente a un protocolo de reserva a medida que el tráfico de la red aumenta. Además, su rendimiento es prácticamente independiente del número de usuarios simultáneos de la red, lo cual es algo deseable en redes que nacen para cubrir una necesidad espontánea y no pueden ser planificadas. El hecho de que algoritmo de clusterización se base en un acceso aleatorio permite la coexistencia e intercomunicación de usuarios DQMAN con usuarios basados en el estándar IEEE 802.11. Este estudio se presenta en esta primera parte de la tesis y es fundamental de cara a una posible explotación comercial de DQMAN. La metodología presentada en esta tesis mediante el cual se logra extender la operación de DQCA a entornos ad hoc sin infraestructura puede ser utilizada para adaptar cualquier otro protocolo centralizado. Con el objetivo de poner de manifiesto esta realidad, la primera parte de la tesis concluye con el diseño y evaluación de DPCF como una extensión distribuida del modo de coordinación centralizado (PCF) del estándar IEEE 802.11 para operar en redes distribuidas. La segunda parte de la tesis se centra en el estudio de un tipo específico de técnicas cooperativas: técnicas cooperativas de retransmisión automática (C-ARQ). La idea principal de las técnicas C-ARQ es que cuando un paquete de datos se recibe con bits erróneos, se solicita retransmisión, no a la fuente de datos, si no a cualquiera de los usuarios que escuchó la transmisión original. Estos usuarios se convierten en espontáneos retransmisores que permiten mejorar la eficiencia de la comunicación. A pesar de que este tipo de esquema puede obtener diversidad de cooperación, el hecho de implicar a más de un usuario en una comunicación punto a punto requiere una coordinación que hasta ahora ha sido obviada en la literatura, asumiendo que los retransmisores pueden coordinarse perfectamente para retransmitir uno detrás de otro. En esta tesis se analiza y evalúa el coste de coordinación impuesto por la capa MAC y se identifican los principales retos de diseño que las técnicas C-ARQ imponen al diseño de la capa MAC. Además, se presenta el diseño y análisis de dos novedosos protocolos MAC para C-ARQ: DQCOOP y PRCSMA. El primero se basa en DQMAN y constituye una extensión de este para operar en esquemas C-ARQ, mientras que el segundo constituye la adaptación del estándar IEEE 802.11 para poder ejecutarse en un esquema C-ARQ. El rendimiento de estos esquemas se compara en esta tesis tanto con esquemas no cooperativos como con esquemas ideales cooperativos donde se asume que el MAC es ideal. Los resultados principales muestran que el diseño eficiente de la capa MAC es esencial para obtener todos los beneficios potenciales de los esquemas cooperativos. / This thesis aims at contributing to the incessant evolution of wireless communications. The focus is on the design of medium access control (MAC) protocols for ad hoc and cooperative wireless networks. A comprehensive state of the art and a background on the topic is provided in a first preliminary part of this dissertation. The motivations and key objectives of the thesis are also presented in this part. Then, the contributions of the thesis are divided into two fundamental parts. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the design, analysis, and performance evaluation of a new high-performance MAC protocol. It is the Distributed Queueing MAC Protocol for Ad hoc Networks (DQMAN) and constitutes an extension and adaptation of the near-optimum Distributed Queueing with Collision Avoidance (DQCA) protocol, designed for infrastructure-based networks, to operate over networks without infrastructure. DQMAN introduces a new access paradigm in the context of distributed networks: the integration of a spontaneous, dynamic, and soft-binding masterslave clustering mechanism together with a high-performance infrastructure-based MAC protocol. Theoretical analysis and computer-based simulation show that DQMAN outperforms IEEE 802.11 Standard. The main characteristic of the protocol is that it behaves as a random access control protocol when the traffic load is low and it switches smoothly and automatically to a reservation protocol as the traffic load grows. In addition, its performance is almost independent of the number of users of a network. The random-access based clustering algorithm allows for the coexistence and intercommunication of stations using DQMAN with the ones just based on the legacy IEEE 802.11 Standard. This assessment is also presented in this first part of the dissertation and constitutes a key contribution in the light of the commercial application of DQMAN. Indeed, the rationale presented in this first part of the thesis to extend DQCA and become DQMAN to operate over distributed networks can be used to extend the operation of any other infrastructure-based MAC protocol to ad hoc networks. In order to exemplify this, a case study is presented to conclude the first part of the thesis. The Distributed Point Coordination Function (DPCF) MAC protocol is presented as the extension of the PCF of the IEEE 802.11 Standard to be used in ad hoc networks. The second part of the thesis turns the focus to a specific kind of cooperative communications: Cooperative Automatic Retransmission Request (C-ARQ) schemes. The main idea behind C-ARQ is that when a packet is received with errors at a receiver, a retransmission can be requested not only from the source but also to any of the users which overheard the original transmission. These users can become spontaneous helpers to assist in the failed transmission by forming a temporary ad hoc network. Although such a scheme may provide cooperative diversity gain, involving a number of users in the communication between two users entails a complicated coordination task that has a certain cost. This cost has been typically neglected in the literature, assuming that the relays can attain a perfect scheduling and transmit one after another. In this second part of the thesis, the cost of the MAC layer in C-ARQ schemes is analyzed and two novel MAC protocols for C-ARQ are designed, analyzed, and comprehensively evaluated. They are the DQCOOP and the Persistent Relay Carrier Sensing Multiple Access (PRCSMA) protocols. The former is based on DQMAN and the latter is based on the IEEE 802.11 Standard. A comparison with non-cooperative ARQ schemes (retransmissions performed only from the source) and with ideal CARQ (with perfect scheduling among the relays) is included to have actual reference benchmarks of the novel proposals. The main results show that an efficient design of the MAC protocol is crucial in order to actually obtain the benefits associated to the C-ARQ schemes.

In the past decade, the development of wireless communication technologies has made the use of the Internet ubiquitous. With the increasing number of new inventions and applications using wireless communication, more interference is introduced among wireless devices that results in limiting the capacity of wireless networks. Many approaches have been proposed to improve the capacity. One approach is to exploit multiple channels by allowing concurrent transmissions, and therefore it can provide high capacity. Many available, license-exempt, and non-overlapping channels are the main advantages of using this approach. Another approach that increases the network capacity is to adjust the transmission power; hence, it reduces interference among devices and increases the spatial reuse. Integrating both approaches provides further capacity. However, without careful transmission power control (TPC) design, the network performance is limited. The first part of this thesis tackles the integration to efficiently use multiple channels with an effective TPC design in a distributed manner. We examine the deficiency of uncontrolled asymmetrical transmission power in multi-channel ad hoc wireless networks. To overcome this deficiency, we propose a novel distributed transmission power control protocol called the distributed power level (DPL) protocol for multi-channel ad hoc wireless networks. DPL allocates different maximum allowable power values to different channels so that the nodes that require higher transmission power are separated from interfering with the nodes that require lower transmission power. As a result, nodes select their channels based on their minimum required transmission power to reduce interference over the channels. We also introduce two TPC modes for the DPL protocol: symmetrical and asymmetrical. For the symmetrical mode, nodes transmit at the power that has been assigned to the selected channel, thereby creating symmetrical links over any channel. The asymmetrical mode, on the other hand, allows nodes to transmit at a power that can be lower than or equal to the power assigned to the selected channel. In the second part of this thesis, we propose the multi-channel MAC protocol with hopping reservation (MMAC-HR) for multi-hop ad hoc networks to overcome the multi-channel exposed terminal problem, which leads to poor channel utilization over multiple channels. The proposed protocol is distributed, does not require clock synchronization, and fully supports broadcasting information. In addition, MMAC-HR does not require nodes to monitor the control channel in order to determine whether or not data channels are idle; instead, MMAC-HR employs carrier sensing and independent slow channel hopping without exchanging information to reduce the overhead. In the last part of this thesis, a novel multi-channel MAC protocol is developed without requiring any change to the IEEE 802.11 standard known as the dynamic switching protocol (DSP) based on the parallel rendezvous approach. DSP utilizes the available channels by allowing multiple transmissions at the same time and avoids congestion because it does not need a dedicated control channel and enables nodes dynamically switch among channels. Specifically, DSP employs two half-duplex interfaces: One interface follows fast hopping and the other one follows slow hopping. The fast hopping interface is used primarily for transmission and the slow hopping interface is used generally for reception. Moreover, the slow hopping interface never deviates from its default hopping sequence to avoid the busy receiver problem. Under single-hop ad hoc environments, an analytical model is developed and validated. The maximum saturation throughput and theoretical throughput upper limit of the proposed protocol are also obtained.

The primary challenge in wireless sensor network (WSN) deployment is the limited network lifetime due to the finite-capacity batteries. In accordance with this challenge, the vast majority of research efforts thus far have focused on the development of energy-efficient communication and computing mechanisms for WSNs. In this thesis, a fundamentally different approach and hence completely new WSN paradigm, i.e., the Passive Wireless Sensor Network (PWSN), is introduced. The objective of PWSN is to eliminate the limitation on the system lifetime of the WSNs. In PWSN, power is externally supplied to the sensor network node via an external RF source. Hence, the lifetime of the system is no longer determined by the lifetime of the batteries. An alternative communication scheme, modulated backscattering, is also discussed to be utilized in PWSN. The feasibility of the proposed system is investigated along with the open research challenges for reliable communication and networking in PWSN. Additionally, a new medium access schemee for PWSN, Ultra-Wideband PWSN Medium Access Control (UWB PWSN MAC), is presented.

The popularity of ubiquitous Internet services has spurred the fast growth of wireless communications by launching data hungry multimedia applications to mobile devices. Powered by spectrum agile cognitive radios, the newly emerged cognitive radio networks (CRN) are proposed to provision the efficient spectrum reuse to improve spectrum utilization. Unlicensed users in CRN, or secondary users (SUs), access the temporarily idle channels in a secondary and opportunistic fashion while preventing harmful interference to licensed primary users (PUs). To effectively detect and exploit the spectrum access opportunities released from a wide spectrum, the heterogeneous wireless channel characteristics and the underlying prioritized spectrum reuse features need to be considered in the protocol design and resource management schemes in CRN, which plays a critical role in unlicensed spectrum sharing among multiple users. The purpose of this dissertation is to address the challenges of utilizing heterogeneous wireless channels in CRN by its intrinsic dynamic and diverse natures, and build the efficient, scalable and, more importantly, practical dynamic spectrum access mechanisms to enable the cost-effective transmissions for unlicensed users. Note that the spectrum access opportunities exhibit the diversity in the time/frequency/space domain, secondary transmission schemes typically follow three design principles including 1) utilizing local free channels within short transmission range, 2) cooperative and opportunistic transmissions, and 3) effectively coordinating transmissions in varying bandwidth. The entire research work in this dissertation casts a systematic view to address these principles in the design of the routing protocols, medium access control (MAC) protocols and radio resource management schemes in CRN. Specifically, as spectrum access opportunities usually have small spatial footprints, SUs only communicate with the nearby nodes in a small area. Thus, multi-hop transmissions in CRN are considered in this dissertation to enable the connections between any unlicensed users in the network. CRN typically consist of intermittent links of varying bandwidth so that the decision of routing is closely related with the spectrum sensing and sharing operations in the lower layers. An efficient opportunistic cognitive routing (OCR) scheme is proposed in which the forwarding decision at each hop is made by jointly considering physical characteristics of spectrum bands and diverse activities of PUs in each single band. Such discussion on spectrum aware routing continues coupled with the sensing selection and contention among multiple relay candidates in a multi-channel multi-hop scenario. An SU selects the next hop relay and the working channel based upon location information and channel usage statistics with instant link quality feedbacks. By evaluating the performance of the routing protocol and the joint channel and route selection algorithm with extensive simulations, we determine the optimal channel and relay combination with reduced searching complexity and improved spectrum utilization. Besides, we investigate the medium access control (MAC) protocol design in support of multimedia applications in CRN. To satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements of heterogeneous applications for SUs, such as voice, video, and data, channels are selected to probe for appropriate spectrum opportunities based on the characteristics and QoS demands of the traffic along with the statistics of channel usage patterns. We propose a QoS-aware MAC protocol for multi-channel single hop scenario where each single SU distributedly determines a set of channels for sensing and data transmission to satisfy QoS requirements. By analytical model and simulations, we determine the service differentiation parameters to provision multiple levels of QoS. We further extend our discussion of dynamic resource management to a more practical deployment case. We apply the experiences and skills learnt from cognitive radio study to cellular communications. In heterogeneous cellular networks, small cells are deployed in macrocells to enhance link quality, extend network coverage and offload traffic. As different cells focus on their own operation utilities, the optimization of the total system performance can be analogue to the game between PUs and SUs in CRN. However, there are unique challenges and operation features in such case. We first present challenging issues including interference management, network coordination, and interworking between cells in a tiered cellular infrastructure. We then propose an adaptive resource management framework to improve spectrum utilization and mitigate the co-channel interference between macrocells and small cells. A game-theory-based approach is introduced to handle power control issues under constrained control bandwidth and limited end user capability. The inter-cell interference is mitigated based upon orthogonal transmissions and strict protection for macrocell users. The research results in the dissertation can provide insightful lights on flexible network deployment and dynamic spectrum access for prioritized spectrum reuse in modern wireless systems. The protocols and algorithms developed in each topic, respectively, have shown practical and efficient solutions to build and optimize CRN.

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is a low-power, low-rate MAC/PHY standard that meets most of the stringent requirements of single-hop wireless sensor networks. Sensor networks with nodal populations comprised of thousands of devices have been envisioned in conjunction with environmental, vehicular, and military applications, to mention a few. However, such large sensor network deployments necessitate multi-hop support as well as low power consumption. In light of the standard's extremely limited joint support of the two aforementioned attributes, this thesis presents two essential contributions. First, a framework is proposed to implement a new IEEE 802.15.4 operating mode, namely the synchronized peer-to-peer mode. This mode is designed to enable the standard's low-power features in peer-to-peer multi-hop-ready topologies. The second contribution is a distributed Guaranteed Time Slot (dGTS ) management scheme designed to function in the newly devised network mode. This protocol provides reliable contention-free access in peer-to-peer topologies in a completely distributed manner. Assuming optimal routing, our simulation experiments reveal perfect delivery ratios as long as the traffic load does not reach or surpass its saturation threshold. dGTS sustains at least twice the delivery ratio of contention access under sub-optimal dynamic routing. Moreover, the dGTS scheme exhibits minimum power consumption by eliminating the retransmissions attributed to contention, which in turn reduces the number of transmissions to a minimum. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2007-10-25 14:55:36.811

L'efficacité énergétique constitue l'objectif clef pour la conception des protocoles de communication pour des réseaux de capteurs radio multi-sauts. Beaucoup d'efforts ont été réalisés à différents niveaux de la pile protocolaire à travers des algorithmes d'agrégation spatiale et temporelle des données, des protocoles de routage efficaces en énergie, et des couches d'accès au médium avec des mécanismes d'ordonnancement permettant de mettre la radio en état d'endormissement afin d'économiser l'énergie. Pour autant, ces protocoles utilisent de façon importante des paquets de contrôle et de découverte du voisinage qui sont coûteux en énergie. En outre, cela se fait très souvent sans aucune interaction entre les différentes couches de la pile. Ces travaux de thèse s'intéressent donc particulièrement à la problématique de l'énergie des réseaux de capteurs à travers des protocoles de routage et d'accès au médium. Les contributions de cette thèse se résument de la manière suivante : Nous nous sommes tout d'abord intéressés à la problématique de l'énergie au niveau routage. Dans cette partie, les contributions se subdivisent en deux parties. Dans un premier temps, nous avons proposé une analyse théorique de la consommation d'énergie des protocoles de routage des réseaux radio multi-sauts d'appréhender au mieux les avantages et les inconvénients des uns et des autres en présence des modèles de trafic variables, un diamètre du réseau variable également et un modèle radio qui permet de modéliser les erreurs de réception des paquets. À l'issue de cette première étude, nous sommes parvenus à la conclusion que pour être économe en énergie, un protocole de routage doit avoir des approches similaires à celle des protocoles de routage géographique sans message hello. Puis, dans un second temps, nous introduisons une étude de l'influence des stratégies de relayage dans un voisinage à 1 saut sur les métriques de performance comme le taux de livraison, le nombre de messages dupliqués et la consommation d'énergie. Cette étude est suivie par une première proposition de protocole de routage géographique sans message hello (Pizza-Forwarding (PF)) exploitant des zones de relayage optimisées et sans aucune hypothèse sur les propriétés du canal radio. Dans le but de réduire considérablement la consommation de PF, nous proposons de le combiner avec une adaptation d'un protocole MAC asynchrone efficace en énergie à travers une approche transversale. La combinaison de ces deux approches montre un gain significatif en terme d'économie d'énergie avec des très bon taux de livraison et cela quels que soient les scénarios et la nature de la topologique.

Les RCsF sont des réseaux ad hoc, sans fil, large échelle déployés pour mesurer des paramètres de l'environnement et remonter les informations à un ou plusieurs emplacements (nommés puits). Les éléments qui composent le réseau sont de petits équipements électroniques qui ont de faibles capacités en termes de mémoire et de calcul ; et fonctionnent sur batterie. Ces caractéristiques font que les protocoles développés, dans la littérature scientifique de ces dernières années, visent principalement à auto-organiser le réseau et à réduire la consommation d'énergie. Avec l'apparition d'applications critiques pour les réseaux de capteurs sans fil, de nouveau besoins émergent, comme le respect de bornes temporelles et de fiabilité. En effet, les applications critiques sont des applications dont dépendent des vies humaines ou l'environnement, un mauvais fonctionnement peut donc avoir des conséquences catastrophiques. Nous nous intéressons spécifiquement aux applications de détection d'événements et à la remontée d'alarmes (détection de feu de forêt, d'intrusion, etc), ces applications ont des contraintes temporelles strictes. D'une part, dans la littérature, on trouve peu de protocoles qui permettent d'assurer des délais de bout en bout bornés. Parmi les propositions, on trouve des protocoles qui permettent effectivement de respecter des contraintes temporelles mais qui ne prennent pas en compte les spécificités des RCsF (énergie, large échelle, etc). D'autres propositions prennent en compte ces aspects, mais ne permettent pas de garantir des bornes temporelles. D'autre part, les applications critiques nécessitent un niveau de confiance très élevé, dans ce contexte les tests et simulations ne suffisent pas, il faut être capable de fournir des preuves formelles du respect des spécifications. A notre connaissance cet aspect est très peu étudié pour les RcsF. Nos contributions sont donc de deux types : * Nous proposons un protocole de remontée d'alarmes, en temps borné, X-layer (MAC/routage, nommé RTXP) basé sur un système de coordonnées virtuelles originales permettant de discriminer le 2-voisinage. L'exploitation de ces coordonnées permet d'introduire du déterminisme et de construire un gradient visant à contraindre le nombre maximum de sauts depuis toute source vers le puits. Nous proposons par ailleurs un mécanisme d'agrégation temps-réel des alarmes remontées pour lutter contre les tempêtes de détection qui entraînent congestion et collision, et donc limitent la fiabilité du système. * Nous proposons une méthodologie de vérification formelle basée sur les techniques de Model Checking. Cette méthodologie se déroule en trois points, qui visent à modéliser de manière efficace la nature diffusante des réseaux sans fil, vérifier les RCsF en prenant en compte la non-fiabilité du lien radio et permettre le passage à l'échelle de la vérification en mixant Network Calculus et Model Checking. Nous appliquons ensuite cette méthodologie pour vérifier RTXP.

Les réseaux sans-fil tels que IEEE 802.11 (Wifi) connaissent aujourd'hui une popularité sans précédent, offrant des connexions réseau à domicile, en entreprise ou dans des lieux publics sous forme de "Hot spot". Nos études ont montré que les centres urbains sont fortement couvert par ce type de réseau (avec une couverture similaire aux réseaux 3G). Cependant, la technologie est limitée par la portée du signal qui provoque des pertes sur le canal. Nous proposons une nouvelle méthode de relayage opportuniste pour les réseaux basés sur le CSMA/CA permettant de faire coopérer des stations. En évitant l'inondation, et en réduisant au maximum la signalisation, nous proposons de légères modifications au standard IEEE 802.11 afin d'autoriser des stations intermédiaires à relayer les trames des autres stations. Les modifications apportées portent simplement sur le traitement des trames à destination d'autrui, et une gestion différente des acquittements : lorsqu'une destination ne reçoit pas un acquittement, toutes les stations ayant reçu la trame considèrent qu'une retransmission est nécessaire. Ces dernières entreront en compétition pour retransmettre la trame si leur probabilité d'effectuer une transmission réussie est plus forte que la source. Nous avons implémenté et testé notre proposition dans le simulateur réseau NS-2, et les résultats démontrent que la connectivité des stations lointaines est fortement améliorée.

In the past decade, the development of wireless communication technologies has made the use of the Internet ubiquitous. With the increasing number of new inventions and applications using wireless communication, more interference is introduced among wireless devices that results in limiting the capacity of wireless networks. Many approaches have been proposed to improve the capacity. One approach is to exploit multiple channels by allowing concurrent transmissions, and therefore it can provide high capacity. Many available, license-exempt, and non-overlapping channels are the main advantages of using this approach. Another approach that increases the network capacity is to adjust the transmission power; hence, it reduces interference among devices and increases the spatial reuse. Integrating both approaches provides further capacity. However, without careful transmission power control (TPC) design, the network performance is limited. The first part of this thesis tackles the integration to efficiently use multiple channels with an effective TPC design in a distributed manner. We examine the deficiency of uncontrolled asymmetrical transmission power in multi-channel ad hoc wireless networks. To overcome this deficiency, we propose a novel distributed transmission power control protocol called the distributed power level (DPL) protocol for multi-channel ad hoc wireless networks. DPL allocates different maximum allowable power values to different channels so that the nodes that require higher transmission power are separated from interfering with the nodes that require lower transmission power. As a result, nodes select their channels based on their minimum required transmission power to reduce interference over the channels. We also introduce two TPC modes for the DPL protocol: symmetrical and asymmetrical. For the symmetrical mode, nodes transmit at the power that has been assigned to the selected channel, thereby creating symmetrical links over any channel. The asymmetrical mode, on the other hand, allows nodes to transmit at a power that can be lower than or equal to the power assigned to the selected channel. In the second part of this thesis, we propose the multi-channel MAC protocol with hopping reservation (MMAC-HR) for multi-hop ad hoc networks to overcome the multi-channel exposed terminal problem, which leads to poor channel utilization over multiple channels. The proposed protocol is distributed, does not require clock synchronization, and fully supports broadcasting information. In addition, MMAC-HR does not require nodes to monitor the control channel in order to determine whether or not data channels are idle; instead, MMAC-HR employs carrier sensing and independent slow channel hopping without exchanging information to reduce the overhead. In the last part of this thesis, a novel multi-channel MAC protocol is developed without requiring any change to the IEEE 802.11 standard known as the dynamic switching protocol (DSP) based on the parallel rendezvous approach. DSP utilizes the available channels by allowing multiple transmissions at the same time and avoids congestion because it does not need a dedicated control channel and enables nodes dynamically switch among channels. Specifically, DSP employs two half-duplex interfaces: One interface follows fast hopping and the other one follows slow hopping. The fast hopping interface is used primarily for transmission and the slow hopping interface is used generally for reception. Moreover, the slow hopping interface never deviates from its default hopping sequence to avoid the busy receiver problem. Under single-hop ad hoc environments, an analytical model is developed and validated. The maximum saturation throughput and theoretical throughput upper limit of the proposed protocol are also obtained.