MAC-aware routing in wireless mesh networks

Abstract

We propose expected throughput, ETP, a new and improved routing metric for wireless mesh networks. In contrast to previously proposed routing metrics, ETP takes into account the bandwidth sharing mechanism of 802.11 DCF. In this mechanism, contending links with lower nominal bit rate degrade the throughput of faster links. It is evident that this MAC layer interaction impacts the link quality, and subsequently, the route quality. We develop an analytical model to capture the above interaction, and use it to define ETP. ETP is therefore expected to yield more accurate throughput estimations than existing routing metrics. Furthermore, ETP is suitable as a routing metric in multi-rate as well as multi-channel mesh networks