C-ICAMA, a centralized intelligent channel assigned multiple access for multi-layer ad-hoc wireless networks with UAVs

Abstract

Multi-layer ad hoc wireless networks with UAVs is an ideal infrastructure to establish a rapidly deployable wireless com- munication system any time any where in the world for mil- itary applications. In this tactical environment, information traffic is quite asymmetric. Ground fighting units are infor- mation consumers and receive far more data than they trans- mit. The up-link is used for sending requests for informa- tion and some networking configuration overhead with a few kilobits, while the down-link is used to return the data re- quested with megabits size (e.g. multimedia file of images and charts). Centralized Intelligent Channel Assigned Mul- tiple Access(C-ICAMA) is a MAC layer protocol proposed for ground backbone nodes to access UAV (Unmanned Aeriel Vehicle) to solve the highly asymmetric data traffic in this tac- tical environment. With it's intelligent scheduling algorithm, it can dynamically allocate bandwidth for up-link and down- link to fit the instantaneous status of asymmetric traffic. The results of C-ICAMA is very promising, due to the dynamic bandwidth allocation of asymmetric up-link and down-link, the access delay is tremendously reduced.