Self-organized Topology Construction and Channel Allocation for Multi-IEEE 802.16-2004 Radio Routers in Disaster Recovery

Self-organizing wireless metropolitan area networks connecting portable GSM/UMTS base stations are a valuable asset to rescue forces in disaster recovery. These networks can be formed by routers employing multiple commercially available IEEE 802.16-2004 interfaces. In this paper, we present and evaluate an algorithm for self-organized topology construction and channel allocation. The algorithm suggests (i) to estimate the capacity of potential wireless links from the measured signalto-noise ratio, (ii) to run a modified Dijkstra algorithm to select links for topology construction in a way that maximizes network capacity and (iii) to greedily allocate channels to minimize interference. We evaluate our algorithm by simulations using QualNet. With the settings preferred by our industry partner, we find that 12 routers per square kilometer are sufficient to enable coverage. Trading path qualities and traffic load on gateways to the wired network significantly improves performance.