Skip-ahead routing in wireless networks

Abstract

Exploiting the broadcast nature of wireless channels, transmitted packets “skip ahead” to receiving nodes farther downstream along an existing, established mesh routing path. Packets are thereby able to more quickly advance through a mesh network towards their destination. This occurs on a packet-by-packet basis and is advantageous even if the underlying path (at that moment) has been optimized. Analysis demonstrates improvements of 25% and greater (as a function of key network parameters), which translates into lower end-to-end latency and possibly higher network throughput.