Capacity and QoS for a Scalable Ring-Based Wireless Mesh Network

• Published in: IEEE journal on selected areas in communications Vol. 24; no. 11; pp. 2070 - 2080
• Main Authors: Huang, J.-H., Li-Chun Wang, Chung-Ju Chang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.11.2006; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Analytical models; Capacity and coverage; Capacity planning; cross-layer analysis; Delay; Economics; Finite element method; Frequency; Jitter; Mathematical analysis; Media Access Protocol; Networks; Nonlinear programming; Optimization; Physical layer; Quality of service; quality-of-service (QoS); Throughput; Wireless communication; wireless mesh network (WMN); Wireless mesh networks
• ISSN: 0733-8716; 1558-0008
• DOI: 10.1109/JSAC.2006.881622

The wireless mesh network (WMN) is an economical solution to support ubiquitous broadband services. This paper investigates the tradeoffs among quality-of-service (QoS), capacity, and coverage in a scalable multichannel ring-based WMN. We suggest a simple frequency planning in the proposed ring-based WMN to improve the capacity with QoS support, and to make the system more scalable in terms of coverage. We develop a physical (PHY)/medium access control (MAC) cross-layer analytical model to evaluate the delay, jitter, and throughput of the proposed WMN, by taking account of the carrier sense multiple-access (CSMA) MAC protocol, and the impact of hop distance on transmission rate in the physical layer. Furthermore, the mixed-integer nonlinear programming optimization approach is applied to determine the optimal number of rings and the associated ring widths, aiming at maximizing the capacity and coverage of a mesh cell subject to the delay requirement