An end-to-end channel allocation scheme for a wireless mesh network

Co-channel interference seriously influences the throughput of a wireless mesh network. This study proposes an end-to-end channel allocation scheme (EECAS) that extends the radio-frequency-slot method to minimize co-channel interference. The EECAS first separates the transmission and reception of packets into two channels. This scheme can then classify the state of each radio-frequency-slot as transmitting, receiving, interfered, free, or parity. A node that initiates a communication session with a quality of service requirement can propagate a channel allocation request along the communication path to the destination. By checking the channel state, the EECAS can determine feasible radio-frequency-slot allocations for the end-to-end path. The simulation results in this study demonstrate that the proposed approach performs well in intra-mesh and inter-mesh communications, and it outperforms previous channel allocation schemes in end-to-end throughput. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.