A Delay-bounded Multi-Channel Routing Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks using Multiple Token Rings: Extended Summary

Wireless mesh network is a promising new direction resulting from the recent rapid progress made in wireless communication technologies. While multiple radio, multiple channel technologies have offered a great potential for increasing network throughput, they also create new research challenges. In this paper, we propose RingMesh, a token ring-based protocol for multi-channel routing. By applying delay-guaranteed rules for joining a ring and for creating new rings, the multiple-ring protocol bounds the end-to-end packet delay within the mesh network, from the source node to a gateway that connects with the wired network. The RingMesh protocol is described as a state machine; the analytical results on bounded delay are presented. We believe that both the protocol and analysis may be applied to other areas of delay-guaranteed wireless network research