Survivable and delay-guaranteed backbone wireless mesh network design

Abstract

Backbone wireless mesh networks (BWMNs) consisting of wireless mesh routers are emerging alternatives to implementations of metropolitan area networks (MANs). In a BWMN, gateways connect to the Internet via wireline links and provide Internet access services for users. Due to the limited wireless channel bit rate, multiple gateways are usually required in a BWMN, which costs budget and takes time to set up. In this paper, we study the network topology design and the gateway arrangement so that the construction cost of a BWMN is minimal. Two algorithms, namely, the Predefined Gateway Set Algorithm (PGSA) and the Self-Constituted Gateway Algorithm (SCGA), are proposed for the BWMN design. A genetic algorithm and a proposed enhanced Djikstra's algorithm are employed to search for the low-cost network configuration with constraints such as survivability, link capacity, degree limitation and maximum tolerable delay. Computational results show that the PGSA can give an acceptable network configuration rapidly. In case the gateway cost is high, using the SCGA can lower the network construction cost at the expense of more computational time.