VoIP Service Performance Optimization in Pre-IEEE 802.11S Wireless Mesh Networks

802.11-based wireless mesh networks are seen as a means for providing last mile connections to next generation networks. Due to the low deployment cost and the mature technology used, they are scalable, easy to implement and robust. With an increasing coverage of wireless networks, VoIP becomes a cheaper alternative for traditional and cellular telephony. In this paper, we carry out a feasibility study of VoIP in a dual radio mesh environment. Heading towards 802.11s, we present the design of a mesh testbed and methodology for performing the measurements. Additionally, we address the problem that small voice packets introduce a high overhead leading to a low voice capacity of 802.11 based mesh networks. In order to alleviate this problem and increase the voice capacity, a novel packet aggregation mechanism is presented and evaluated using the ns-2 simulator.