A Node-Based Time Slot Assignment Algorithm for STDMA Wireless Mesh Networks

Most slot assignment algorithms that are proposed for spatial time-division multiple-access (STDMA) mesh networks use a simplified transmission model that does not consider the time-varying fading characteristic of a wireless channel. In addition, these algorithms are usually link based, and scheduling in each slot is fixed and done for links. When the scheduled link is in deep fade or has no traffic, the slot that is given to that link will be wasted. In this paper, we present a node-based slot assignment scheme in which scheduling in each slot is done for nodes and not links. Because a node has multiple links, it can exploit multiuser diversity, i.e., different links have different traffic and fading conditions, to achieve much better performance.