Non-root-based Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are wireless networks that are composed of mesh routers and mesh clients. Mesh routers have minimal mobility and form the backbone of WMNs. IEEE 802.11s-based WMNs have a default routing protocol, namely, a hybrid wireless mesh protocol (HWMP). In tree-based proactive mode, HWMP is completely centralized and constrained by the root node, which causes a bottleneck at the root node. In reactive mode, HWMP always initiates path discovery message broadcasting, which uses unnecessary power resources. In this paper, we propose a new routing protocol for WMNs based on HWMP. This protocol, which we refer to as the decentralized hybrid wireless mesh protocol (DHWMP), provides a different root for different transmissions. We also perform simulations to compare the performance of the proposed scheme with existing routing protocols, including HWMP, ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing, and optimized link state routing (OLSR).