A minimal spanner and backoff approach for topology and collision control in mesh networks

The nodes in wireless mesh networks are connected through mesh topology so that there are multiple connections and pathways among all the nodes in network. The mesh networks provide a multi-hop environment which makes each node accountable for routing functions. But so much redundancy in connectivity and large number of routing nodes leads to an overhead in the network in case of dense traffic conditions due to larger number of data and control messages. Since the nodes communicate in shared medium, more the number of transmissions, more is the contention in the network. The greater contention in the network causes collisions among the nodes. Therefore, a topology and collision control mechanism has been proposed in this work, which can handle all these inter-related issues concerning the connectivity, routing nodes overhead and collisions in shared medium. The proposed scheme controls the connectivity and enables the routing functionality for fewer nodes in the network using the concepts of Minimal Spanning Graph and Probe packets. A Mean Backoff Algorithm has been implemented for efficient access of shared medium and controlling collisions. The proposed approach for topology and collision control provides better delivery of transmitted data and a reduction in delays in the network.