On the Capacity Region of Multi-Radio Multi-Channel Wireless Mesh Networks

Next generation fixed wireless broadband networks are being increasingly deployed as mesh networks in order to provide and extend access to the Internet. These networks are characterized by the use of multiple orthogonal channels and nodes with the ability to simultaneously communicate with many neighbors using multiple radios (interfaces) over orthogonal channels. Networks based on the IEEE 802.11a.b.g and 802.16 standards are examples of these systems. However, due to the limited number of available orthogonal channels, interference is still a factor in such networks. Recent results have attempted to characterize the achievable capacity of such networks, both in the deterministic [1] and asymptotic [2] sense. In this paper, we build on these previous works and provide an experimental verification of asymptotic capacity result in [2] by using the deterministic model first proposed in [1]. Our simulation results are based on a novel joint channel assignment and scheduling algorithm which is shown to achieve near-optimal capacity limits in random network topologies. The results in this paper are the first to provide an experimental verification of theoretical results in [2] and give an insight into the behavior of the capacity region of a multi-hop multi-radio mesh network.