Network-Wide Resource Optimization of Wireless OFDMA Mesh Networks with Multiple Radios

We rate optimization and radio resource management in wireless OFDMA-based mesh networks. Radio units equipped with multiple radio interfaces are combined with the OFDMA medium access scheme to make up for the classical limitations of single- carrier wireless networks. We pose the problem as a utility maximization problem subject to link-rate constraints, power control and transmission scheduling in terms of time slots, channels and radio interfaces. The optimal solution to this problem is in general hard to achieve, both in theory and in practice. We propose an alternative solution approach that drastically reduces the computation time, and suggest a heuristic scheme that attempts to reduce the computation time even further while maintaining the overall system performance close to the optimal. For each scheme we validate the theoretical framework and quantify the performance with numerical examples.