CaDAR: An Efficient Routing Algorithm for a Wireless–Optical Broadband Access Network (WOBAN)

A wireless-optical broadband access network (WOBAN) is a combination of wireless and optical network segments to optimize the cost and performance of an access network. A WOBAN's optical backhaul enables it to support high capacity, while its wireless front end [also called a wireless mesh network (WMN)] enables its users to have untethered access. Wireless nodes collect traffic from end users and carry them to the optical part of a WOBAN, possibly using multiple hops, but the traffic also experiences delay at each wireless node. The finite radio capacity at each wireless node limits the capacity on each outgoing link from a wireless node of a WOBAN. Thus, delay and capacity limitation in the WMN of a WOBAN are major constraints. We design a capacity- and delay-aware routing scheme, called CaDAR, to minimize the delay and increase the throughput in the WMN of a WOBAN. Our analysis shows that CaDAR is an efficient routing scheme for WOBAN that can support much higher load and has lower system delay than other approaches (IEEE Network, vol. 22, no. 3, p. 20, 2008) because of better load-balanced routing.