A new parallel scheduling system for multiple radio wireless mesh network

Abstract

To enhance the capacity of wireless mesh networks, a key technique is widely investigated which is the usage of multi-radio and multi-channel diversity. In this paper, a new parallel scheduling system is proposed which exploits MAC diversities by transmitting packets on the radios opportunistically. Compared with conventional packet transmission which follows “one flow one radio”, the new system uses radio diversity to transmit the packets on different radios simultaneously. Two kernel components of this system are selection module and schedule module. A localized selecting algorithm is implemented in the selection model to choose the right radios based on the quality of wireless links; two distributed packet-scheduling algorithms are optional with the schedule component. Finally, a routing metric adapting this system is presented. We have carried out a comprehensive performance evaluation of this system using ns-2. Simulation results show that it can successfully harness diversity of multi-radio and multi-channel to provide considerable improvements over a baseline multi-channel system in several situations.

Keywords

wireless mesh network / diversity / parallel scheduling / algorithm