A Network Resource Management Framework for Wireless Mesh Networks

Abstract

In infrastructure wireless mesh networks (WMNs), a mobile station (STA) associates with one of the nearby mesh access points (MAPs) that are connected to a capacity-limited wireless multi-hop backhaul. For better network resource utilization in WMNs, it is preferred that more traffic is carried by the good-backhaul MAPs that are closer to the portal or having better backhaul condition. In this paper, by taking the features of WMNs and the inter-cell interference into consideration, we propose a network resource management framework that jointly manages MAP–STA association, MAP access network channel assignment, and user bandwidth allocation. The proposed framework is composed of three components: an optimization-based association control algorithm that improves the network resource utilization by associating more STAs with the good-backhaul MAPs, an access network channel assignment algorithm that effectively increases the network capacity by reducing the interference at the good-backhaul MAPs, and a utility-fair bandwidth allocation algorithm that is flexible in adjusting the trade-off between network throughput and user fairness. We demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithms through simulations with various network topologies and conditions.