Ad hoc networks refer to the wireless networking paradigm that covers a variety of network forms for specific purposes, such as mobile ad hoc networks, sensor n- works, vehicular networks, underwater networks, underground networks, personal area networks, and home networks. The various forms of ad hoc networks promise a broad scope of applications in civilian, commercial, and military areas, which have led to significant new research problems and challenges, and have attracted great efforts from academia, industry, and government. This unique networking paradigm neces- tates re-examination of many established wireless networking concepts and protocols, and calls for developing new fundamental understanding of problems such as interf- ence, mobility, connectivity, capacity, and security, among others. While it is ess- tial to advance theoretical research on fundamentals and practical research on efficient algorithms and protocols, it is also critical to develop useful applications, experim- tal prototypes, and real-world deployments to achieve a practical impact on our so- ety for the success of this networking paradigm. The annual International Conference on Ad Hoc Networks (AdHocNets) is a new event that aims at providing a forum to bring together researchers from academia as well as practitioners from industry and government to meet and exchange ideas and recent research work on all aspects of ad hoc networks. As the first edition of this event, AdHocNets 2009 was successfully held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, during September 22–25, 2009.

Wireless technologies and applications are becoming one of the fastest growing and most promising areas in recent years. To accommodate data transmission by multiple stations sharing the scarce wireless bandwidth, a medium access control (MAC) protocol plays a crucial role in scheduling packet transmission fairly and efficiently. The emerging wireless networks, such as ad-hoc networks, sensor networks or mesh networks, are mostly multi-hop based and in distributed manner, which brings a lot of problems and challenges in designing fine-tuned MAC protocols tailored for modern wireless network. In this book, the authors give complete and in-depth overviews to the classic medium access control algorithms and the related protocols, as well as their applications in various wireless data networks especially the most successful Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). The book consists of three major parts. Part I of this book, including Chapters 1-7, is emphasising on the fundamentals of medium access control algorithms and protocols. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the wireless networks, such as overview of wireless networks, problems and challenges of the wireless networks, and the classifications of MAC protocols as well as the performance metrics. Chapter 2 introduces important collision resolution algorithms applied in medium access controls, for example, the splitting algorithm and the backoff algorithm. Chapter 3 reviews the hybrid access control algorithms that combine both contention and allocation schemes. A series of important collision avoidance schemes are introduced in Chapters 4-7 respectively, with a specific design goal covered in each chapter. Chapter 4 focuses on the multi-channel MAC protocols for collision avoidance; Chapter 5 introduces the concepts of power control and power management in medium access control and how they can be applied in MAC protocol design; Chapter 6 presents how to provide Quality-of- Service (QoS) to multimedia wireless networks, in either centralised or distributed manner; and Chapter 7 explains how the smart antennas can be applied in the medium access control to provide high channel throughput and low packet collision.

Wireless Vehicular Networks for Car Collision Avoidance focuses on the development of the ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) in order to minimize vehicular accidents. The book presents and analyses a range of concrete accident scenarios while examining the causes of vehicular collision and proposing countermeasures based on wireless vehicular networks.The book also describes the vehicular network standards and quality of service mechanisms focusing on improving critical dissemination of safety information. With recommendations on techniques and protocols to consider when improving road safety policies in order to minimize crashes and collision risks.