The RTS/CTS Mechanism

When a node wants to transmit data to another node, it sends out a RTS 'Request to Send' packet. The receiver node replies with a packet called CTS 'Cleared to Send' packet.After the transmitter node receives the CTS packet, it transmits the data packets. Encoded within the RTS/CTS packets is a duration field. The duration field is set such that the data transmission can be completed within the designated time period. If a transmiiter node does not receive a CTS packet it enters into an exponential back off mode.