QoS associated path selection in wireless mesh networks

This paper proposes an improved mesh path selection protocol for QoS support in wireless mesh network, while avoiding the inherent problems of proactive and reactive path selection elements. The proposed `Advanced Selective Greedy' (SelG+) path selection protocol operates in two phases. In the first phase it constructs a set of potential forwarders for every mesh stations. In the second phase during the actual data communication, a candidate is selected from the set of potential forwarders based on a local greedy optimization approach. A new routing metric is designed for the construction of the set of potential forwarders, that considers the queuing delay during data forwarding. Further, a path differentiation mechanism is introduced during the greedy selection to avoid interference among different traffic classes. The proposed scheme improves the performance of delay sensitive traffics by reducing the forwarding delay, and the throughput of background and best effort elastic traffics by reducing the inter-traffic class interference. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using a practical indoor mesh testbed, and compared with other schemes.