A REVIEW ON COLLISION AVOIDANCE MECHANISM OF RANDOM ACCESS TECHNIQUES IN WIRELESS

COMMUNICATION

Ahmad B Usman (ENG/17/TEL/00241)

Department of Telecommunication
Bayero University Kano (BUK)

ABSTRACT
The goal of 802.11ax is to improve the networking performance of individual device, especially those
mobile stations with numerous access networks in high-density wireless network. However, traditional
802.11 standards have the problem of poor transmission efficiency because traditional standards for
wireless network enhance the overall wireless network volume and are easy to be implemented. When
there is numerous wireless networking devices existing in a congested network to continuously conduct
random access procedure, the success rate of channel access might drastically drop, leading to
Problems such as data error, loss, latency, energy consumption, etc.; to improve this problem, when
designing message processing mechanism in physical layers, the problem of media access control should
also considered. Numerous researches have been carried out and many schemes has been proposed to
improve the efficiency of data transfer/communication between devices connected on wireless network
some of which has been reviewed in this article.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Collision avoidance is define as the situation where device send a communication request to a wireless
system and at the same time another device is sending a similar request. The system will try to avoid the
collision between the requests. To understand this better, let’s imagine there is a room and there are
three different people, and when two people are talking, the third person if he tries to talk the
conversation becomes difficult for the other two people. In the same way, let’s say we have three
different computers ABC on the same network. If computer A was talking to B and suddenly C transfers
data to A, then collision occur, the original message from A to B becomes disturbed and not useful
anymore because there is interference. So in situations like this, when A detects it and it backs off
before it tries to send a message back to B again. That how was the collision avoidance system use to
works. Later the concept of collision avoidance was introduced. The concept works in such a way that
when, C before it start sending data to A, it tries to analyze if there is a conversation going on already
between other device on the networks before it sends. This new technology, not only help to avoid
collisions but also respond correctly if a collision does occur and it’s called carrier sense multiple access
collision detection (CSMA/CD). This is access method used on early Ethernet networks i.e. half duplex
networks that utilize coaxial cable and earlier versions of twisted pair cable. CSMA/CD as mentioned on
earlier works by each computer first sensing if the connection medium (wire) is idle before sending its
data, thereby avoiding any collisions. But in case of collision where two computers send data to a similar
receiver, a collision happens. In this situation when the computers that are sending that data detect a
collision, they immediately stop sending the data and instead will transmit a jamming signal out on the
network that will notify all the other devices on the network that a collision has happened. After that,
the two computers that caused the collision will each wait a random amount of time before they send
their data again in order to avoid the collision again. CSMA/CD was used in older technology i.e. and it
isn’t as relevant today due to the advancement in network technology. With the emergence of wireless
technology, carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) method is used
(GEEKSFORGEEKS, 2023) (Yalda Edalat, Katia Obraczka and Jong-Suk Ahn, 2022). Now this is the access
method that is used for carrier transmission in wireless networks. When a device wants to send data on
a wireless network, it cannot hear if there is any collision on the network because there is no cable
involved, instead it will sense if there is any transmission happening. If it detects any other transmission
it will wait short amount of time before checking the channel again. And if no transmission is sensed, it
will wait a short random amount of time and then it will go ahead and send its data. Then once the
destination device receives the data, it will respond to the sending device with an acknowledgement
informing the sender that it has received the data. If the sending device does not receive the
acknowledgement, it will start the process all over again. Another method that CSMA/CA uses to avoid
collisions is the optional RTS/CTS protocol which stands for ‘Ready To Send/Clear To Tend’. This is a n
optional protocol that is used with CSMA/CA on wireless networks. This protocol enables computer to
send out an RTS signal to the wireless access point (WAP) requesting for an opportunity to send out its
data. If the WAP grants this request, the access point will temporarily stop all other communication on
the network and then it will respond back to the computer with a CTS signal which tells the computer to
go ahead and send its data. In this protocol the WAP is the traffic controller on the wireless network.
(GEEKSFORGEEKS, 2023)

1.1 AIM OF COLLISION DETECTION (Mi´skowicz, 2021)

The collision detection has been provided to avoid a waste of bandwidth by stopping as soon as
possible transmissions of long data packets involved in collisions. This argument is invalid in networking
technologies that form Internet of Things since the size of packets transmitted through the channel is
relatively small and usually does not exceed a few dozens of bytes. The motivation to use the collision
detection in LON networks is different from that related to computer data networks. First, from the
point of view of the packet sender, the collision detection reduces the response time because the
sender does not have to wait for time-out before attempting to resend the messages. Second, in the
context of global network performance, the collision detection is a part of collision avoidance
mechanism that improves the network throughput due to adjustments of the contention window size to
the current traffic load

1.2 HIDDEN NODE AND EXPOSED NODE PROBLEM

Figure1

Consider the situation depicted in figure1, where each of the four nodes is able to send and receive
signals that reach just the nodes to its immediate left and right. For example, B can exchange frames
with A and C but it cannot reach D, while C can reach B and D but not A. (A and D’s reach is not shown in
the figure.) Suppose both A and C want to communicate with B and so they each send it a frame. A and
C are unaware of each other since their signals do not carry that far. These two frames collide with each
other at B, but unlike an Ethernet, neither A nor C is aware of this collision. A and C are said to be hidden
nodes with respect to each other.
Collision cannot be detected in hidden node problem, this is because the nodes A and C are out of range
of each other. Thus, Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) does not work,
and collisions occur. The data received by the access point is corrupted due to the collision. To
overcome the hidden node problem, RTS/CTS handshaking (IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS) is implemented in
addition to the Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme. A related
problem, called the exposed node problem, occurs under the following stated circumstances: Suppose B
is sending to A (as in Figure 1). Node C is aware of this communication because it hears B’s transmission.
It would be a mistake for C to conclude that it cannot transmit to anyone just because it can hear B’s
transmission. For example, suppose C wants to transmit to node D. This is not a problem since C’s
transmission to D will not interfere with A’s ability to receive from B. We address these problems by an
algorithm known as Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA). The sender and receiver exchange
frames with each other before transmitting data. This informs all nearby nodes that a transmission is
about to begin. Sender transmits Request to Send (RTS) frame to receiver. The receiver then replies with
clear to send (CTS) frame back to the sender. Any node that receives CTS frame knows that it is close to
the receiver, therefore, cannot transmit a frame. (GEEKSFORGEEKS, 2023) (Dnyaneshwar Mantri, Neeli
Rashmi Prasad, Ramjee Prasad, 2014)

1.3 RTS/CTS BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS (Yalda Edalat, Katia Obraczka and Jong-Suk Ahn, 2022)
The main goal of the RTS/CTS handshake is to combat the hidden node problem. While the RTS and the
CTS frames are themselves still subject to collisions, the overhead incurred by an RTS or CTS collision is
usually much lower than a data retransmission, especially for very long data frames, which has become
a common trend in recent applications.
Although the RTS/CTS mechanism can mitigate collisions caused by hidden terminals, it also presents
some drawbacks as described below.
Overhead: The RTS/CTS handshake attract additional overhead by generating control traffic (i.e., RTS
and CTS frames) as well as delaying data transmission. In the case of short data frames, the additional
delay needed to perform the RTS/CTS exchange may not be worthwhile as the cost of a data frame and
a RTS/CTS collision would be comparable.
Blocking non-interfering parallel transmission and False Blocking: RTS/ CTS may block concurrent
transmissions from other nodes that would not result in collisions. The RTS may block nodes within the
sender’s transmission range from transmitting even if their transmission would not interfere with the
RTS sender’s transmission. Similarly, the CTS may block nodes that receive it from receiving from other
nodes.
RTS/CTS collisions: In crowded areas, where hidden terminals are prevalent, the RTS/CTS handshake is
less effective as a collision avoidance technique. This is because RTS and CTS frames are themselves
subject to collision in the same way as data frames. When the traffic load is heavy and the number of
hidden terminals is high, the chance of unsuccessful RTS/CTS handshake increases due to higher channel
contention and thus higher collision probability. Besides the delay and overhead incurred by the
retransmission of the RTS, the channel would be unusable for nodes who overhear the RTS and CTS for
the time specified in the NAV.

2.0 COLLISION AVOIDANCE MECHANISMS/SCHEMES

In wireless networks, collision is a major factor of performance degradation. Collision avoidance multiple
access plays an important role in wireless sensor networks, especially for those composed of nodes
having simple access protocol functionality. In wireless local area networks (WLANs), medium access
control (MAC) protocols enable multiple stations to access shared wireless mediums without collisions.
Distributed Coordination Function (DCF), which is the multiple access mechanism in the IEEE 802.11
standards, adopts a random access scheme called carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance
(CSMA/CA). Each wireless node uses the binary exponential backoff (BEB) algorithm to avoid collisions: A
node is allowed to transmit after a backoff time, which is randomly selected in the contention window
(CW). If a collision occurs, CW is doubled in order to decrease the collision probability (Chang Kyu Lee
and Seung Hyong Rhee, 2020).
Figure 2. Illustration of IEEE 802.11 DCF (Chang Kyu Lee and Seung Hyong Rhee, 2020)

There have been several researches to solve these problems regarding the random number selection in.
Among them, Early Backoff Announcement (EBA) in has been paid attention due to its simple and
effective way to reduce collision (Choi, 2005). In EBA, each node piggybacks the random backoff number
for the next packet in the current transmission to avoid multiple nodes to select the same number. One
basic assumption of EBA is that the piggybacked backoff number of a node is delivered to other nodes
safely, and this makes it hard to apply EBA for topologies with hidden nodes. In this letter, we propose a
novel scheme for reducing collision in IEEE 802.11 networks. In (Jinkyu Lee, Student Member, IEEE, and
Ikjun Yeom, 2009) each node monitors the link, and chooses an idle slot for its transmission. Once it
successfully transmits its packet, it keeps the slot for a while to transmit its subsequent packets. To
improve link utilization, a node may keep a set of several slots. As long as the set of slots is maintained
disjoint, a node can access the link without collision. The main advantage of this scheme over EBA is that
it does not need to explicitly inform slot numbers to others since each node individually senses the link
to avoid collision. Hence, the proposed scheme performs well in the presence of hidden nodes since a
node can usually detect transmissions of hidden nodes even though it is not possible to decode them.
The performance of the proposed scheme and compare it with the legacy IEEE 802.11 and EBA through
ns-2 simulation (Choi, 2005). Standard values for the Lucent’s Wave LAN as the radio model is used, and
a nominal radio transmission (interference) range is 250 (550) meter. Data and ACK transmission rate
are 11 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively, and one slot time is 0.02 msec. which is corresponding to the
backoff time slot in the IEEE 802.11 standard. In each run of simulation, each node sends 1 KB UDP
packets with 1 msec. interval.
Numerous protocols have been proposed for wireless sensor networks during the past decades.
However, the majority of these proposals require too much action to be taken by sensor nodes, which
makes the sensor nodes too complex. (Jianwei Wang, Yuping Zhao, Dong Wang and Timo Korhonen,
2007) focus on the sensor networks composed of simple function nodes and presented novel collision
avoidance multiple access algorithms. Both suggested algorithms are based on two functional stages:
the channel allocation stage and the actual data transmission by using TDMA and/or CDMA. Simulation
results indicate that the algorithms significantly improve communication efficiency via collision
avoidance scheme, comparing to existing proposals. Communication between the controller and the
one-hop node (Figure. 3) and presented two multiple access algorithms: CDCR-1D (Collision Detection
Controlled Reading-1 Dimension) and CDCR-2D (Collision Detection Controlled Reading-2 Dimension)
algorithms. CDCR-1D applies pure TDMA scheme while CDCR-1D involves both TDMA and CDMA. Both
of the two are capable of reducing collision possibility and significantly improve transmission efficiency.

Figure 3. Sensor networks equipped with Figure 4. Mechanism of CDCR-1D

central controller (Jianwei Wang, Yuping Zhao, Dong Wang and Timo Korhonen, 2007)

Most of the existing resource allocation schemes to tackle the problem of excessive interference caused
by D2D links are centralized, which incurs substantial communication and computational overhead. D2D
link can generate serious interference to other D2D links as well as cellular devices without any proper
interference control mechanism. Compared to centralized resource allocation and power control
schemes for the D2D communication, a distributed scheme is advantageous, in that it has smaller
control overhead and is more responsive to traffic demands. To overcome the difficulty, (Ewaldo Zihan
and Kae Won Choi, 2014) proposes a fully-distributed D2D communication protocol for collision
avoidance. To protect a D2D receiver, the proposed protocol creates an exclusion region around the
D2D receiver, where interferers are prohibited from transmitting a signal.

Figure 5. Time-frequency domain model of the proposed protocol (Ewaldo Zihan and Kae Won Choi,
2014)
Similarly, (Dnyaneshwar Mantri, Neeli Rashmi Prasad, Ramjee Prasad, 2014)proposes fusion of CSMA
and TDMA for the proposed activity based sleep/wake up scheduling to avoid the collision of packets in
the multi-hop communications. It effectively improves the packet delivery ratio by 69.13 % in the multi-
hop cluster-tree network scenarios. The proposed approach shows approximately 30 % reduction in
average energy consumption with less latency. The decreased energy consumption and delay to achieve
high packet delivery ratio helps to improve network lifetime for power constrained sensor networks.
When there are numerous wireless networking devices existing in a congested network to continuously
conduct random access procedure, the success rate of channel access might drastically drop, leading to
problems such as data error, loss, latency, energy consumption, etc.; to improve this problem, when
designing message processing mechanism in physical layers, we should also consider the problem of
media access control. Hence, (Rung-Shiang Cheng and Chung-Ming Huang, 2015) proposes a collision
detection and avoidance media access mechanism for next-generation WiFi communications. The
proposed algorithm leverages the ability of underlying random access to compatible legacy WiFi and
identifies available slot-time to avoid channel collision of the access network. The algorithm’s
performance is evaluated by the simulation which demonstrates significant improvement in terms of
channel efficiency as well as transmission delay. The results confirm that the proposed CSMA/CDA
scheme provides a better performance than the legacy CSMA/CA in dense WiFi networks.

References
Chang Kyu Lee and Seung Hyong Rhee. (2020). Collision Avoidance in IEEE 802.11 DCF using a
Reinforcement Learning Method. IEEE, 898-901.

Dnyaneshwar Mantri, Neeli Rashmi Prasad, Ramjee Prasad. (2014). Scheduled Collision Avoidance in
wireless sensor network using Zigbee. International Conference on Advances in
Computing,Communications and Informatics (ICACCI), 2129-2134.

Ewaldo Zihan and Kae Won Choi. (2014). Random Access Protocol for Collision Avoidance in Cellular
Device-to-Device Communication. IEEE, 2369-2374.

Ewaldo Zihan, Student Member, IEEE, Kae Won Choi, Member, IEEE, and Dong In Kim, Senior Member,
IEEE. (2015). Distributed Random Access Scheme for Collision Avoidance in Cellular Device-to-
Device Communication. IEEE, 3571-3585.

GEEKSFORGEEKS. (2023, April 18). Collision avoidance in wireless networks. Retrieved october 01, 2023,
from geeksforgeeks: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org

Huang Qianwei, Ma Hongxu, Zhang Hui. (2003). Collision-avoidance Mechanism of Multi Agent System.
IEEE, 1046-1040.

Jianwei Wang, Yuping Zhao, Dong Wang and Timo Korhonen. (2007). Collision Avoidance Multiple
Access in Wireless Sensor Networks. IEEE.

Jinkyu Lee, Student Member, IEEE, and Ikjun Yeom. (2009). Avoiding Collision with Hidden Nodes in IEEE
802.11 Wireless Networks. IEEE, 743-745.

Mi´skowicz, M. (2021). Unfairness of Random Access with Collision Avoidance in Industrial Internet of
Things Networks. MDPI.

Rung-Shiang Cheng and Chung-Ming Huang. (2015). Collision Detect and Avoidance Media Access
Mechanism for Next Generation 802.11ax Networks. IEEE, 189-193.

Yalda Edalat, Katia Obraczka and Jong-Suk Ahn. (2022). Smart adaptive collision avoidance for IEEE
802.11. Elsavier.