The real gain of cross-layer routing in wireless mesh networks

ABSTRACT

Efficient routing in wireless mesh networks is a fundamental issue to be addressed in order to boost real deployments bywireless Internet Service Providers (ISP). In last years, research has shown, mainly by simulation, that a cross-layerdesign can significantly improve network performance. Nevertheless, despite the multitude of solutions proposed, fewhave known a real implementation. In this paper, we propose some measurements, performed on a real Wireless MeshNetwork (WMN), clearly showing the importance of a cross-layer approach in order to improve the performances of the mesh backbone. The platform is composed of MeshDVboxes our custom Wireless Mesh Router (WMR), built up from off-the-shelf hardware and open source software. As a routing protocol we use two versions (with and without cross-layermetrics) of MeshDV, a simple routing protocol expressly de-signed for WMNs. Our tests show that in cases where traditional hop-count metric compromises network connectivity, cross-layer routing is able to maintain it and has still good performances.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.2 Network Protocols
          Subjects: Routing protocols
      C.2.6 Internetworking
          Subjects: Routers

  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.8 Metrics
          Subjects: Performance measures

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
cross-layer routing, performance measurements, test-bed deployement, wireless mesh networks