On Separating Route Control and Data Flows in Multi-radio Multi-hop Ad Hoc Network

Abstract

Ad hoc networks typically require a significant amount of routing and control information to be distributed in a timely and reliable manner throughout the network, particularly in dynamic environments. As traffic levels increase and the network becomes more heavily congested, there is an increased probability that these critical packets are lost, resulting in obsolete control information being used to make important decisions. This would further compound the problem of network congestion and lead to a very rapid loss of connectivity and throughput. Given this, we argue the solutions to these problems should not rely on putting extra bandwidth on a radio interface. Instead, we should exploit the use of multiple radios to ensure the route can be firmly established. In this paper, we propose a multiradio solution which reserves one radio channel exclusively for routing. Our simulation results have demonstrated that using a separate radio for routing protocol would dramatically improve reliability in heavily loaded ad hoc wireless networks, thereby effectively alleviating the impact of network congestion. Abstract-Ad hoc networks typically require a significant amount of routing and control information to be distributed in a timely and reliable manner throughout the network, particularly in dynamic environments. As traffic levels increase and the network becomes more heavily congested, there is an increased probability that these critical packets are lost, resulting in obsolete control information being used to make important decisions. This would further compound the problem of network congestion and lead to a very rapid loss of connectivity and throughput. Given this, we argue the solutions to these problems should not rely on putting extra bandwidth on a radio interface. Instead, we should exploit the use of multiple radios to ensure the route can be firmly established. In this paper, we propose a multiradio solution which reserves one radio channel exclusively for routing. Our simulation results have demonstrated that using a separate radio for routing protocol would dramatically improve reliability in heavily loaded ad hoc wireless networks, thereby effectively alleviating the impact of network congestion. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Characterising the Interactions Between Unicast and Broadcast in IEEE 802.11 Ad Hoc Networks

“…As for the future works, we intend to consider the possible solutions which include the introduction of a priority-based backoff mechanism, such as the IEEE 802.11e Enhanced Distributed Coordination Function (EDCF) or an adaptive broadcast backoff scheme. For situations where broadcast traffic must be delivered with maximum reliability, we may consider to provide a separate radio channel for broadcast traffic (such as routing information) which will result in much higher network stability as shown in [12].…”

Contributions to the routing of traffic flows in multi-hop IEEE 802.11 wireless networks

“…due to collisions or buffer overflow). Ways to avoid this problem could include the limitation of TCP data rates [75] or assuring the delivery of signaling frames by using for instance a common channel isolated from data in multi-radio networks [135]. In any case, results show that WCIM_MON can be used to route TCP traffic at least as well as the ETT metric.…”

“…Regarding IDCA and MR-DEMON mechanism, the interference of external networks into the channel assignment algorithm, especially in the case of the common channel [101], should be considered in real deployments due to the high presence of Wi-Fi networks. Also, although the usage of a common channel offers some advantages [135], other mechanisms to assure connectivity should be studied. Finally, in the case of MR-DEMON, as also occurs with DEMON, the study of different thresholds and route recovery strategies should be considered in future enhancements of the mechanism.…”