Link Scheduling Algorithms for Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have the potential of being a cost effective solution to provide connectivity and coverage in both urban and rural areas. Typically, a WMN is a backbone network that carries high data rate traffic and employs Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) like access mechanisms. For a WMN to provide high throughput, the design of an efficient link scheduling algorithm is of paramount importance. Towards this end, we provide an overview of link scheduling algorithms in Spatial TDMA wireless mesh networks. These algorithms can be classified into three categories: those based only on a communication graph model of the network, those based on a communication graph model and Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) threshold conditions at receivers and those based on an SINR graph model of the network. We first outline a framework for modeling STDMA networks. We review representative research works and provide the description of an algorithm from each of these classes. We describe the relative merits and demerits of each class of algorithms and compare their performance via simulations. We conclude with a discussion on practical implementation of these algorithms and open research problems.