Design of logical topology with K-connected constraints and channel assignment for multi-radio wireless mesh networks

SUMMARY In multi-radio multi-channel wireless mesh networks, the design of logical topology is different from that in single channel wireless mesh networks. The same channel assignment algorithm used for various logical topologies will lead to diverse network performance. In this paper, we study the relationship between k-connected logical topology and the maximum number of assigned channels. Meanwhile, we analyze the issues affecting channel assignment performance, and present the lower and upper bounds of the maximum allowable number of assigned channels for k-connected logical topology. We then develop a k-connected logical topology design algorithm based on shortest disjoint paths and minimum interference disjoint paths for each node-pair. In addition, we propose a static channel assignment algorithm according to minimum spanning tree search. Extensive simulations show that our proposed algorithm achieves higher throughput and lower end-to-end delay than fault tolerant topology control algorithms, which validates the involved trade-off between path length and nodal interference. Moreover, numerical results demonstrate that our proposed channel assignment further improves network performance under the context of limited radio interfaces. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.