AbstractThe staggered multicast protocol for multihop spread spectrum packet radio networks is suitable for unicasting and broadcasting as well as multicasting. The common‐header/transmitter‐based spreading code is used for data packet transmission and the receiver‐based code is used for acknowledgement packet transmission. By staggering packet transmission the protocol can significantly reduce broadcasting delay. A special addressing method and packet format are also designed to achieve collision‐free acknowledgement and multicast capability. Simulation results show that the protocol provides better throughput‐delay performance than the common‐header/transmitter‐based slotted A