A distributed routing protocol for predictable rates in wireless mesh networks

Behnaz Arzani, Roch Guerin, Alejandro Ribeiro

Wireless mesh networks hold the promise of rapid and flexible deployments of communication facilities. This
potential notwithstanding, the often erratic behavior of multihop wireless transmissions is limiting the range
of applications that such networks can target. In this paper we investigate the feasibility and benefits of a
routing protocol explicitly aimed at making wireless mesh networks more predictable while preserving their
efficiency and flexibility. The protocol’s basic premise is the classical idea that a multipath solution can offer
resiliency to unexpected link variations. The paper’s contributions are in demonstrating how this can be
effectively realized in a wireless context, and in offering initial evidences of its efficacy. In particular, the paper
illustrates how routing decisions that account for link variability can be computed in a distributed fashion, and
the benefits they afford in improving the stability of end-to-end transmission rates even in the presence of
random network fluctuations