Routing in Multi-Channel Multi-Interface Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

Wireless technologies, such as IEEE 802.11, that are used for ad hoc networks provide for multiple non-overlapping channels. Most ad hoc routing protocols that are currently available are designed to use a single channel. The available network capacity can be increased by using multiple channels, but this requires the development of new protocols specifically designed for multi-channel operation. This paper studies the problem of improving the capacity of multi-channel wireless networks by using multiple interfaces. We use the technique of interface switching to utilize all the channels, even when the number of available interfaces is smaller than the number of available channels. We propose an interface assignment strategy that can be implemented over existing IEEE 802.11 hardware, and is well-suited for ad hoc networks. We propose a new routing protocol that is specifically designed for multi-channel, multiinterface wireless networks. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in significantly increasing network capacity, by utilizing all the available channels, even when the number of interfaces is smaller than the number of channels.