Title: Towards an optimised traffic-aware routing in wireless mesh networks

Authors: Chiraz Houaidia; Hanen Idoudi; Adrien Van Den Bossche; Thierry Val; Leila Azouz Saidane

Addresses: CNRS-IRIT-IRT, University of Toulouse, UT2, Toulouse, France ' National School of Computer Sciences (ENSI), University of Manouba, Campus Universitaire de la Manouba, Tunisia ' CNRS-IRIT-IRT, University of Toulouse, UT2, Toulouse, France ' CNRS-IRIT-IRT, University of Toulouse, UT2, Toulouse, France ' National School of Computer Sciences (ENSI), University of Manouba, Campus Universitaire de la Manouba, Tunisia

Abstract: In this paper, we study through simulations the impact of PHY/MAC protocols on higher layers. In a comparative way, we investigate the effectiveness of some protocols when they coexist on a wireless mesh network environment. Results show that PHY/MAC parameters have an important impact on routing performances. Based on these results, we propose two traffic-aware routing metrics based on link availability. The information about the link availability/occupancy is picked up from lower layers using a cross-layer approach. The first metric is load-sensitive and aims to balance the traffic load according to the availability of a link to support additional flows. The second metric reproduces better the capacity of a link since it is based on its residual bandwidth. Using several real experiments, we have shown that our proposals can accurately determine better paths in terms of throughput and delay. Our experiments are carried out into a heterogeneous IEEE 802.11n-based network running with OLSR routing protocol.

Keywords: wireless mesh networks; WMNs; cross-layering; traffic-aware routing; routing metrics; testbed; optimisation; link availability; residual bandwidth; throughput; delay.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSC.2014.066013

International Journal of Space-Based and Situated Computing, 2014 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.217 - 232

Received: 14 Dec 2013
Accepted: 24 Apr 2014
Published online: 20 Dec 2014 *

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