Energy-balanced cooperative routing in multihop wireless networks

Cooperative communication (CC) allows multiple nodes to simultaneously transmit the same packet to the receiver so that the combined signal at the receiver can be correctly decoded. Since the CC can reduce the transmission power and extend the transmission coverage, it has been considered in minimum energy routing protocols to reduce the total energy consumption. However, previous research on cooperative routing only focuses on minimizing the total energy consumption from the source node to the destination node, which may lead to the unbalanced energy distribution among nodes. In this paper, we aim to study the impact of cooperative routing on balancing the energy distribution among nodes. By introducing a new routing scheme which carefully selects cooperative relay nodes and assigns their transmission power, our cooperative routing method can balance the remaining energy among neighboring nodes to maximize the lifetime of the network. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed cooperative routing algorithm significantly balances the energy distribution and prolongs the lifetime of the network.     

Enhanced cooperative MAC for wireless local area networks

A novel network protocol,enhanced cooperative medium access control(ECoop MAC),is present in this article.Its function is to guarantee the quality of service(QoS)in wireless local area networks.For the sake of supporting different application scenarios,two proposed schemes,namely E-scheme I for lower priority traffic and E-scheme II for higher priority traffic can be adopted independently or in combination.ECoop MAC takes into account request failure problems,and utilizes cooperative protocol information to boost the system performance as well as to effectively cut control packets overhead.Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can not only improve network throughput,but also lead to reduced network delays for individual packets.     

Energy efficient network coding-based MAC for cooperative ARQ wireless networks

In this paper we introduce a network coding-aided energy efficient Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol that coordinates the transmissions among a set of relay nodes which act as helpers in cooperative Automatic Repeat reQuest-based (ARQ-based) wireless networks. Applying network coding techniques, we achieve to increase the energy efficiency of the network without compromising the system performance in terms of Quality of Service. Our proposed solution is evaluated by both analytical and simulation results.     

Admission-control policies for multihop wireless networks

In this paper, we investigate the admission-control problem for voice traffic in fixed-route circuit-switched wireless networks. We consider coordinate-convex admission-control policies and a blocked-calls-cleared mode of operation, in conjunction with the usual assumptions on the voice process statistics. These conditions result in a product-form stationary distribution for the voice state of the system, which facilitates the evaluation of network performance. However, to determine the optimal policy a large state space must be searched. We develop a recursive procedure to accelerate the evaluation of a large number of different admission-control policies, and a descent-search method to reduce significantly the number of policies that must be evaluated in searching for the optimal one. The numerical examples we present indicate that reduced blocking probability (or increased throughput) can be obtained by administering active admission control. The degree of improvement is highest in moderately overloaded traffic conditions, but it is typically small in low-capacity networks (at all loads). However, in applications where the performance measure associates different revenues or costs with the various call types, considerable improvement can be obtained when admission control is used.     

Cooperative multihop broadcast for wireless networks

We address the minimum-energy broadcast problem under the assumption that nodes beyond the nominal range of a transmitter can collect the energy of unreliably received overheard signals. As a message is forwarded through the network, a node will have multiple opportunities to reliably receive the message by collecting energy during each retransmission. We refer to this cooperative strategy as accumulative broadcast. We seek to employ accumulative broadcast in a large scale loosely synchronized, low-power network. Therefore, we focus on distributed network layer approaches for accumulative broadcast in which loosely synchronized nodes use only local information. To further simplify the system architecture, we assume that nodes forward only reliably decoded messages. Under these assumptions, we formulate the minimum-energy accumulative broadcast problem. We present a solution employing two subproblems. First, we identify the ordering in which nodes should transmit. Second, we determine the optimum power levels for that ordering. While the second subproblem can be solved by means of linear programming, the ordering subproblem is found to be NP-complete. We devise a heuristic algorithm to find a good ordering. Simulation results show the performance of the algorithm to be close to optimum and a significant improvement over the well known BIP algorithm for constructing energy-efficient broadcast trees. We then formulate a distributed version of the accumulative broadcast algorithm that uses only local information at the nodes and has performance close to its centralized counterpart.     

无线网络中基于优先级竞争的协作媒质接入控制协议研究

提出了一种适于无线网络的基于优先级竞争的协作媒质接入控制(PBC-CMAC)协议。该协议首先由源节点根据本地中继信息表选择2个最佳候选中继节点,以反映缩短传输时间程度的中继效率值区分优先级,并在CRTS分组中宣布。被选择的候选节点通过侦听源节点与目的节点交换的控制分组,可得到即时的相关速率信息,并结合自身优先级无冲突竞争成为最终的中继节点。该协议可以从所有可能的中继节点中快速、无冲突地选择出适于当前信道质量状态的最佳中继节点进行协作传输,提高了中继节点选择的成功率和协作效率,改善了网络接入性能。仿真结果表明,与IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS和CoopMAC协议相比,PBC-CMAC协议有效提高了无线网络的多址性能。     

Distributed space-time-coded protocols for exploiting cooperative diversity in wireless networks

We develop and analyze space-time coded cooperative diversity protocols for combating multipath fading across multiple protocol layers in a wireless network. The protocols exploit spatial diversity available among a collection of distributed terminals that relay messages for one another in such a manner that the destination terminal can average the fading, even though it is unknown a priori which terminals will be involved. In particular, a source initiates transmission to its destination, and many relays potentially receive the transmission. Those terminals that can fully decode the transmission utilize a space-time code to cooperatively relay to the destination. We demonstrate that these protocols achieve full spatial diversity in the number of cooperating terminals, not just the number of decoding relays, and can be used effectively for higher spectral efficiencies than repetition-based schemes. We discuss issues related to space-time code design for these protocols, emphasizing codes that readily allow for appealing distributed versions.     

Real-time support in multihop wireless networks

Personal communications and mobile computing will require a wireless network infrastructure which is fast deployable, possibly multihop, and capable of multimedia service support. The first infrastructure of this type was the Packet Radio Network (PRNET), developed in the 70's to address the battlefield and disaster recovery communication requirements. PRNET was totally asynchronous and was based on a completely distributed architecture. It handled datagram traffic reasonably well, but did not offer efficient multimedia support. Recently, under the WAMIS (Wireless Adaptive Mobile Information Systems) and Glomo ARPA programs several mobile, multimedia, multihop (M³) wireless network architectures have been developed, which assume some form of synchronous, time division infrastructure. The synchronous time frame leads to efficient multimedia support implementations. However, it introduces more complexity and is less robust in the face of mobility and channel fading. In this paper, we examine the impact of synchronization on wireless M³ network performance. First, we introduce MACA/PR, an asynchronous network based on the collision avoidance MAC scheme employed in the IEEE 802.11 standard. Then, we evaluate and compare several wireless packet networks ranging from the totally asynchronous PRNET to the synchronized cluster TDMA network. We examine the tradeoffs between time synchronization and performance in various traffic and mobility environments.     

Novel self-configurable positioning technique for multihop wireless networks

Geographic location information can effectively improve the performance (e.g., in routing or intelligent coordination) of large wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a novel self-configurable positioning technique for multihop wireless networks, based on a Euclidean distance estimation model and a coordinates establishment scheme. A number of nodes serve as the landmarks to establish a coordinates system. Specifically, any pair of landmarks estimate their Euclidean distance according to the shortest path length between them and establish the coordinates system by minimizing an error objective function. Other nodes in the network can accordingly contact the landmarks and determine their own coordinates. The proposed technique is independent of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs), and the established coordinates can be easily tuned to GNSS if at least one node in the network is equipped with GNSS receiver. Our simulation results show that the proposed self-configurable positioning technique is highly fault-tolerable to measurement inaccuracy and can effectively establish the coordinates for multihop wireless networks. More landmarks yield more accurate results. With the rectification of our Euclidean distance estimation model, four to seven landmarks are usually sufficient to meet the accuracy requirement in a network with hundreds of nodes. The computing time for coordinates establishment is in the order of milliseconds for a GHz CPU, acceptable for most applications in the mobile ad hoc networks as well as the sensor networks.     

Link-layer-and-above diversity in multihop wireless networks

The instability of wireless channels was a haunting issue in communications until recent exploration in utilizing variation. The same transmission might present significantly, and usually independently, different reception quality when broadcast to receivers at different locations. In addition, the same stationary receiver might experience drastic fluctuation over time as well. The combination of link-quality variation with the broadcasting nature of the wireless channel itself disclosed a direction in the research of wireless networking, namely, the utilization of diversity. In this article, we summarize the causes of channel diversity in wireless communications, and how it is perceived in different layers of multihop wireless networks. To promote new research innovations in this area, we concentrate on link-layer diversity and speculate on the challenges and potential of diversity schemes at the network layer.     

Spatial reuse efficiency calculation for multihop wireless networks

A multihop network provides an increase in the spatial and frequency resource reuse as compared to a single-hop network. However, a precise quantification of the benefit obtained in terms of spatial reuse is still an open issue. In this paper, a mathematical analysis is carried out in order to derive the spatial reuse efficiency of a multihop wireless network. It is demonstrated through both approximate and exact analysis, that for an unbounded network, the reuse efficiency of the wireless system increases with the number of multiple hops, M  , and the spatial protection margin, Δ$\Delta$, defined around the receiver. Significantly, it has been found that even in case of an infinitely large spatial protection margin, the obtained reuse efficiency is a finite value and is limited by the number of multiple hops in the communicating link.     

Link state opportunistic routing for multihop wireless networks

Wireless Networks - Enhancing the quality of service is the crucial issue of future wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a new multihop wireless routing protocol inspired by opportunistic...     

An Aloha protocol for multihop mobile wireless networks

An Aloha-type access control mechanism for large mobile, multihop, wireless networks is defined and analyzed. This access scheme is designed for the multihop context, where it is important to find a compromise between the spatial density of communications and the range of each transmission. More precisely, the analysis aims at optimizing the product of the number of simultaneously successful transmissions per unit of space (spatial reuse) by the average range of each transmission. The optimization is obtained via an averaging over all Poisson configurations for the location of interfering mobiles, where an exact evaluation of signal over noise ratio is possible. The main mathematical tools stem from stochastic geometry and are spatial versions of the so-called additive and max shot noise processes. The resulting medium access control (MAC) protocol exhibits some interesting properties. First, it can be implemented in a decentralized way provided some local geographic information is available to the mobiles. In addition, its transport capacity is proportional to the square root of the density of mobiles which is the upper bound of Gupta and Kumar. Finally, this protocol is self-adapting to the node density and it does not require prior knowledge of this density.     

Improving throughput in multihop wireless networks

One of the main characteristics of wireless ad hoc networks is their node-centric broadcast nature of communication, leading to interferences and spatial contention between adjacent wireless links. Due to such interferences, pessimistic concerns have been recently raised with respect to the decreasing network capacity in wireless ad hoc networks when the number of nodes scales to several orders of magnitude higher. Such studies assume uniformly distributed nodes in the network and randomized traffic patterns. In this paper, we argue that in all cases of end-to-end data communications-including one-to-k unicast and multicast data dissemination as well as k-to-one data aggregation-the maximum achievable end-to-end data throughput (measured on the sources) heavily depends on the strategy of arranging the topology of transmission between sources and destinations, as well as possible per-node operations such as coding. An optimal strategy achieves better end-to-end throughput than an arbitrary one. We present theoretical studies and critical insights with respect to how these strategies may be designed so that end-to-end throughput may be increased. After all, under all circumstances-in either a lightly loaded or a congested network-increasing end-to-end throughput from its baseline is always beneficial to applications using ad hoc networks to communicate.     

Performance analysis of rate-adaptive cooperative MAC based on wireless local area networks

Bi-dimensional Markov chain model based on cooperative medium access control (MAC) of wireless local area networks (WLAN) is considered to reflect system performance accurately. Two basic factors that affect the analysis results are station retry limits and non-saturated transmit probability. A uniform solution considering both factors is proposed. To prove the theoretical analysis, a cooperative MAC (CoopMAC) topology is established and the simulation model is enhanced by changing the cooperative table to the nodes' memory with more information added. Meanwhile, the three-way handshake scheme is modified and a handshake threshold is set based on the packet size. Simulation results show the performance analytical model is accurate, and the rate-adaptive cooperative MAC protocol significantly improves the network performance in terms of non-saturated system throughput and delay.     

无线mesh网络中多跳数据流的拥塞控制

提出了一种无线mesh网络的拥塞控制机制LAP(link layer adaptive pacing),利用mesh网关控制有线到无线数据流的发送速率,避免过多数据传输产生跳路间的严重干扰.算法以每个数据流为对象,在改进多跳数据流性能的同时,还很好地保证了网络公平性.此外,控制机制在链路层完成,不需要修改现有传输或路由协议.仿真结果表明LAP控制下的网络性能远远胜过802.11网络,而且较目前主流算法也有明显改善.     

Fair TDMA scheduling in wireless multihop networks

In wireless multihop networks, communication between two end-nodes is carried out by hopping over multiple wireless links. However, the fact that each node has to transmit not only its own traffic, but also traffic on behalf of other nodes, leads to unfairness among the communication rates of the nodes. Traditional Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) based media access control does not work satisfactory in a multihop scenario, since an intended target of a communication may be subject to mutual interference imposed by concurrent transmissions from nodes, which cannot directly sense each other, thus causing unfair throughput allocation. Although Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) seems to be a more promising solution, careful transmission scheduling is needed in order to achieve error-free communication and fairness. Several algorithms may be found in the literature for scheduling TDMA transmissions in wireless multihop networks. Their main goal is to determine the optimal scheduling, in order to increase the capacity and reduce the delay for a given network topology, though they do not consider the traffic requirements of the active flows of the multihop network or fairness issues. In this paper, we propose a joint TDMA scheduling/load balancing algorithm, called Load-Balanced-Fair Flow Vector Scheduling Algorithm (LB-FFVSA). This algorithm schedules the transmissions in a fair manner, in terms of throughput per connection, taking into account the communication requirements of the active flows of the network. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves improved performance compared to other solutions, not only in terms of fairness, but also in terms of throughput. Moreover, it was proved that when a load balancing technique is used, the performance of the scheduling algorithm is further improved.