Node-to-Node Available Bandwidth Estimation in Ad Hoc Networks

Wireless multi-hop network employing the IEEE 802.11 protocol in distributed coordination function (DCF) mode are becoming increasingly popular. In that network, all nodes share wireless communication channel and node-to-node bandwidth estimation is important to node wishing to send or to receive data. Techniques for accurate bandwidth estimation are also important for routing protocol wishing to effectively make full use of bandwidth. In this paper, we present a method to dynamically estimate the node-to-node available bandwidth with neighboring nodes being taken into account. We estimate the neighbor's bandwidth according to its historical status and the amount of data that it transferred recently. In this paper, we modify the 'Hello' message inAOADV routing protocol and make it carry information of data transfer recently. We can keep the neighborpsilas bandwidth in routing table. The simulation results show that our estimation of available bandwidth is very accurate.