Joint Channel Assignment and Routing for Throughput Optimization in Multiradio Wireless Mesh Networks

Multihop infrastructure wireless mesh networks offer increased reliability, coverage, and reduced equipment costs over their single-hop counterpart, wireless local area networks. Equipping wireless routers with multiple radios further improves the capacity by transmitting over multiple radios simultaneously using orthogonal channels. Efficient channel assignment and routing is essential for throughput optimization of mesh clients. Efficient channel assignment schemes can greatly relieve the interference effect of close-by transmissions; effective routing schemes can alleviate potential congestion on any gateways to the Internet, thereby improving per-client throughput. Unlike previous heuristic approaches, we mathematically formulate the joint channel assignment and routing problem, taking into account the interference constraints, the number of channels in the network, and the number of radios available at each mesh router. We then use this formulation to develop a solution for our problem that optimizes the overall network throughput subject to fairness constraints on allocation of scarce wireless capacity among mobile clients. We show that the performance of our algorithms is within a constant factor of that of any optimal algorithm for the joint channel assignment and routing problem. Our evaluation demonstrates that our algorithm can effectively exploit the increased number of channels and radios, and it performs much better than the theoretical worst case bounds     

Gateway Placement for Throughput Optimization in Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, we address the problem of gateway placement for throughput optimization in multi-hop wireless mesh networks. Assume that each mesh node in the mesh network has a traffic demand. Given the number of gateways to be deployed (denoted by k) and the interference model in the network, we study where to place exactly k gateways in the mesh network such that the total throughput is maximized while it also ensures a certain fairness among all mesh nodes. We propose a novel grid-based gateway deployment method using a cross-layer throughput optimization, and prove that the achieved throughput by our method is a constant times of the optimal. Simulation results demonstrate that our method can effectively exploit the available resources and perform much better than random and fixed deployment methods. In addition, the proposed method can also be extended to work with multi-channel and multi-radio mesh networks under different interference models.     

TCP Throughput Enhancement over Wireless Mesh Networks

TCP is the predominant technology used on the Internet to support upper layer applications with reliable data transfer and congestion control services. Furthermore, it is expected that traditional TCP applications (e.g., Internet access) will continue to constitute the major traffic component during the initial deployment of wireless mesh networks. However, TCP is known for its poor throughput performance in wireless multihop transmission environments. For this article, we conducted simulations to examine the impact of two channel interference problems, the hidden terminal and exposed terminal, on TCP transmissions over wireless mesh networks. We also propose a multichannel assignment algorithm for constructing a wireless mesh network that satisfies the spatial channel reuse property and eliminates the hidden terminal problem. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in improving the performance of TCP in wireless multihop networks.     

A Novel Gateway Selection Technique for Throughput Optimization in Configurable Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have attracted much attention due to their low up-front cost, easy network deployment, stable topology, robustness, reliable coverage, and so forth. These advantages are suitable for the disaster recovery applications in disaster areas, where WMNs can be advantageously utilized to restore network collapse after the disaster. In this paper, based on a new network infrastructure for WMNs, to guarantee high network performance, we focus on the issue of throughput optimization to improve the performance for WMNs. Owing to selecting different mesh router (MR) as the gateway will lead to different network throughput capacity, we propose a novel gateway selection technique to rapidly select the optimal MR as the gateway, in order to maximize the network throughput. In addition, we take into account the traffic distribution for the MR to eliminate traffic congestion in our method. The performance of our proposed method is evaluated by both numerical and simulated analysis. The simulation results demonstrate that the gateway selection method is effective and efficient to optimize the throughput for WMNs.     

Distributed Throughput Maximization in Wireless Mesh Networks via Pre-Partitioning

This paper considers the interaction between channel assignment and distributed scheduling in multi-channel multi-radio Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Recently, a number of distributed scheduling algorithms for wireless networks have emerged. Due to their distributed operation, these algorithms can achieve only a fraction of the maximum possible throughput. As an alternative to increasing the throughput fraction by designing new algorithms, we present a novel approach that takes advantage of the inherent multi-radio capability of WMNs. We show that this capability can enable partitioning of the network into subnetworks in which simple distributed scheduling algorithms can achieve 100% throughput. The partitioning is based on the notion of Local Pooling. Using this notion, we characterize topologies in which 100% throughput can be achieved distributedly. These topologies are used in order to develop a number of centralized channel assignment algorithms that are based on a matroid intersection algorithm. These algorithms pre-partition a network in a manner that not only expands the capacity regions of the subnetworks but also allows distributed algorithms to achieve these capacity regions. We evaluate the performance of the algorithms via simulation and show that they significantly increase the distributedly achievable capacity region. We note that while the identified topologies are of general interference graphs, the partitioning algorithms are designed for networks with primary interference constraints.      

基于无线Mesh网络的多目标TDMA调度算法

无线mesh网络的迅速发展使其得到了广泛的应用,此类网络的研究中,MAC层的资源优化问题备受关注.本文就无线mesh网络MAC层的时槽分配调度问题,提出了基于NSGA-Ⅱ算法的CNSGA-Ⅱ算法.理论分析和仿真结果表明该算法所得到的Pareto解集具有较好的相对覆盖率和整体前沿扩展性能,能在能耗和时延两个目标参数之间达到较好的平衡状态.     

Energy Efficient QoS Aware SOCCOR Protocol for Improving Throughput in Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - In this paper a new propagation model is proposed for use in complex indoor environments. The model was tested in the frequency range of 2.4 GHz in the...     

Asymptotic Throughput Capacity Analysis of Multi-Channel, Multi-Interface Wireless Mesh Networks

Research into the analytical solutions for the capacity of the infrastructure wireless mesh networks (InfWMN) is highly interesting. An InfWMN is a hierarchical network consisting of mesh clients, mesh routers and gateways. The mesh routers form a wireless mesh infrastructure to which the mesh clients are connected through the use of star topology. The previous analytical solutions have only investigated the asymptotic per-client throughput capacity of either single-channel InfWMNs or multi-channel InfWMNs under conditions in which each infrastructure node (i.e. wireless routers and gateways), has a dedicated interface per-channel. The results of previous analytical studies show that there are quite few studies that have addressed the more practical cases where the number of interfaces per-node is less than the number of channels. In this paper, we derive an original analysis of the asymptotic per-client throughput capacity of multi-channel InfWMNs in which the number of interfaces per-infrastructure node, denoted by m, is less than or equal to the number of channels, denoted by c. Our analysis reveals that the asymptotic per-client throughput capacity of multi-channel InfWMNs has different bounds, which depend on the ratio between c and m. In addition, in the case that m < c, there is a reduction in the capacity of the InfWMN compared to the case in which c = m. Our analytical solutions also prove that when ${\frac{\text{c}}{\text{m}}=\Omega\left({\frac{{\rm N}_g^2}{{\rm N}_{\rm r}}}\right)}$ , where N_g and N_r denote the number of gateways and mesh routers respectively, gateways cannot effectively increase the throughput capacity of the multi-channel InfWMNs.     

Cross-Layer Design for End-to-End Throughput and Fairness Enhancement in Multi-Channel Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, we study joint rate control, routing and scheduling in multi-channel wireless mesh networks (WMNs), which are traditionally known as transport layer, network layer and MAC layer issues respectively. Our objective is to find a rate allocation along with a flow allocation and a transmission schedule for a set of end-to-end communication sessions such that the network throughput is maximized, which is formally defined as the maximum throughput rate allocation (MRA) problem. As simple throughput maximization may result in a severe bias on rate allocation, we take account of fairness based on a simplified max-min fairness model and the proportional fairness models. We define the max-min guaranteed maximum throughput rate allocation (MMRA) problem and proportional fair rate allocation (PRA) problem. We present efficient linear programming (LP) and convex programming (CP) based schemes to solve these problems. Numerical results show that proportional fair rate allocation schemes achieves a good tradeoff between throughput and fairness.     

Joint Power-Frequency-Time Resource Allocation in Clustered Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networking is an emerging technology for future broadband wireless access. Future wireless networking can benefit from a robust and reliable wireless mesh backbone rendered by mesh routers, providing an all-wireless ambience. Due to the requisite multichannel communications for high-speed data transmissions, power allocation for opportunistically exploiting fading wireless channels, and packet scheduling for QoS provisioning, joint power-frequency-time resource allocation is indispensable. In this article we propose a low-complexity intracluster resource allocation algorithm, taking power allocation, subcarrier allocation, and packet scheduling into consideration. Numerical results demonstrate that our scheme is near optimal, and that our optimality-driven resource allocation approach outperforms a greedy algorithm, working out a better performance compromise among throughput, packet dropping rate, and packet delay.     

A Multi-Objective Optimization Approach for Joint Channel Assignment and Multicast Routing in Multi-Radio Multi-Channel Wireless Mesh Networks

Multicast routing is an effective mechanism for delivering data to a group of receivers. Due to intrinsic property of air medium in wireless mesh networks (WMN), interference is an important issue in determining the data rate for multicast services. Interference reduction is handled by assigning multiple orthogonal channels to multiple radios in multi-radio multi-channel WMNs. Channel assignment is known to be a NP-complete problem. Most prior methods have solved multicast routing and channel assignment problems sequentially and have not considered the interplay between these two problems. Focusing on this issue, we address joint channel assignment and routing problem for multicast applications. In this paper, a novel technique based on a multi-objective genetic algorithm is proposed to build a delay constrained minimum cost multicast tree with minimum interference. We have examined the proposed algorithm on different network configurations. Experimental results demonstrate that our method finds better trees in terms of cost, delay, and interference compared to prior methods.     

无线Mesh网络跨层优化及其安全机制研究

新兴的无线Mesh网络作为无线宽带接入网具有巨大的应用价值。基于最新无线通信技术标准,结合无线Mesh网络的特点,以网络性能及资源最大化利用为优化目标,提出对无线Mesh网络中物理层、媒体接入/数据链层、网络层各层间进行联合优化,并对无线Mesh网络相关的网络安全机制架构关键技术进行前瞻性的应用基础研究,为无线Mesh网络的组网与应用提供理论支持和技术保障。     

A Cross-Layer Optimization Framework for Multihop Multicast in Wireless Mesh Networks

The optimal and distributed provisioning of high throughput in mesh networks is known as a fundamental but hard problem. The situation is exacerbated in a wireless setting due to the interference among local wireless transmissions. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer optimization framework for throughput maximization in wireless mesh networks, in which the data routing problem and the wireless medium contention problem are jointly optimized for multihop multicast. We show that the throughput maximization problem can be decomposed into two subproblems: a data routing subproblem at the network layer, and a power control subproblem at the physical layer with a set of Lagrangian dual variables coordinating interlayer coupling. Various effective solutions are discussed for each subproblem. We emphasize the network coding technique for multicast routing and a game theoretic method for interference management, for which efficient and distributed solutions are derived and illustrated. Finally, we show that the proposed framework can be extended to take into account physical-layer wireless multicast in mesh networks     

无线Mesh网络QoS路由度量研究

无线Mesh网络的研究非常活跃,针对网络路由选择已经提出了一些路由选择度量。本文对各种路由度量及优缺点进行了详细的分析,并在此基础上,给出了一种新的路由度量方式并展望无线Mesh网络QoS路由度量选择的发展方向。     

无线Mesh网络可扩展性相关技术

无线移动通信中传输的数据密度持续增长对无线Mesh网络的系统性能提出了挑战。在无线自组织网络中,由于存在随着节点数目的增加而平均节点容量逐步降低的规律,因此无线Mesh网络的大规模组网难以实施。无线Mesh网络可扩展性对于增强无线Mesh网络的自适应组网能力至关重要,因此,文章对在Mesh基站和Mesh移动台上采用的与可扩展性相关的关键技术,如信道分配技术、智能路由技术、多天线技术、节点分类和QoS分级技术、协作传输技术等,进行了探讨。     

Scalability Technologies for Wireless Mesh Networks

The continuous increase of data transmission density in wireless mobile communications has posed a challenge to the system performance of Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs ). There is a rule for wireless Ad hoc networks that the average node capacity decreases while the number of nodes increases , so it is hard to establish a large - scale wireless Mesh network. Network scalability is very important for enhancing the adaptive networking capability of the wireless Mesh network. This article discusses key scalability technologies for Mesh Base Stations (BSs ) and Mesh Mobile Stations (MSs ), such as channel allocation, intelligent routing , multi- antenna , node classification, Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation and cooperative transmission.     

Gateway Placement Optimization in Wireless Mesh Networks With QoS Constraints

In a wireless mesh network (WMN), the traffic is aggregated and forwarded towards the gateways. Strategically placing and connecting the gateways to the wired backbone is critical to the management and efficient operation of a WMN. In this paper, we address the problem of gateways placement, consisting in placing a minimum number of gateways such that quality-of-service (QoS) requirements are satisfied. We propose a polynomial time near-optimal algorithm which recursively computes minimum weighted Dominating Sets (DS), while consistently preserving QoS requirements across iterations. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm using both analysis and simulation, and show that it outperforms other alternative schemes by comparing the number of gateways placed in different scenarios     

Wireless Mesh Networks for In-Home IPTV Distribution

IPTV is considered to be the next killer application. A key, challenging issue is in-home IPTV distribution with affordable deployment cost and sufficient flexibility, scalability, and reliability. In this article, we first survey and compare the emerging wired and wireless communication technologies for broadband home networks, including transmission over power lines, phone lines, coaxial cables or Ethernet cables, and IEEE 802.1 In, ultra wideband and millimeter wave wireless technologies. Considering these promising candidates for future broadband home networks, we propose three wireless mesh network architectures. These enable consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime IPTV services without rewiring their homes. We compare the cost, reliability, and scalability of the three architectures. We further study their admission regions for IPTV, that is, the number of IPTV connections that can be supported simultaneously with satisfactory QoS. Analytical and simulation results with H.264 HDTV sources over wired, single hop wireless, and multi-hop wireless paths are given. These results can provide important guidelines for future broadband home network design supporting IPTV services.     

A General Interference-Aware Framework for Joint Routing and Link Scheduling in Wireless Mesh Networks

Joint design and optimization of traditionally independent problems such as routing and link scheduling have recently become one of the leading research trends in wireless mesh networks. Although technically challenging, cross-layering is, in fact, expected to bring significant benefits from the network resource exploitation standpoint to achieve high system utilization. In this article we propose a versatile framework for joint design of routing and link scheduling, introducing the notion of link activation constraints, which are related to the transceiver capability and the broadcast nature of the wireless medium. To this end, we introduce a taxonomy of wireless interference models to harmonize existing approaches presented in the literature. Finally, we evaluate the impact on network capacity of the various interference models when optimal joint routing and link scheduling are employed.