The concept of cooperative communication appears as a beneficial method that can address key challenges faced by wireless networks. Cooperative techniques in IEEE
802.11 MAC protocols have thus received significant attention both in theoretical and practical aspects. In this survey article, we provide an overview of existing research on cooperative MAC protocols in the IEEE 802.11 standard. We specially focus on protocol’s behavior and propose a novel architectural model for cooperation. We present a classification of cooperative relay based MAC protocols, along model desired categories, and review representative cooperative protocols for 802.11. We further evaluate the operational issues of cooperative protocols in term of architecture, compatibility and complexity