Hybrid multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh networks

Many efforts have been devoted to maximizing network throughput in a multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh network. Current solutions are based on either pure static or pure dynamic channel allocation approaches. In this paper, we propose a hybrid multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh networking architecture, where each mesh node has both static and dynamic interfaces. We first present an Adaptive Dynamic Channel Allocation protocol (ADCA), which considers optimization for both throughput and delay in the channel assignment. In addition, we also propose an Interference and Congestion Aware Routing protocol (ICAR) in the hybrid network with both static and dynamic links, which balances the channel usage in the network. Compared to previous work, our simulation results show that ADCA reduces the packet delay considerably without degrading the network throughput. Moreover, the hybrid architecture shows much better adaptivity to changing traffic than pure static architecture without dramatic increase in overhead.