A Topology-Independent Fair Queueing Model in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

Fair queueing of rate and delay-sensitive packet flows in a shared-medium, multihop wireless network remains largely unaddressed because of the unique design issues such as location-dependent contention, spatial channel reuse, conflicts between ensuring fairness and maximizing channel utilization, and distributed fair scheduling. In this paper, we propose a new topology-independent fair queueing model for a shared-medium ad hoc network. Our model ensures coordinated fair channel access among spatially contending flows while seeking to maximize spatial channel reuse. We describe packetized algorithms that realize the fluid fairness model with analytically provable performance bounds. We further design distributed implementations that approximate the ideal centralized algorithm. We evaluate our design through both simulations and analysis.