A neighbor-based holdoff reduction scheme for distributed scheduling in wireless mesh networks

The IEEE 802.16 standard of wireless mesh networks includes various scheduling algorithms, both centralized and distributed, to determine the proper time slot that each wireless node can transmit its data. In this paper, we introduce a new scheduling scheme to improve scalability and resource utilization in wireless mesh networks where all nodes compete to gain access to the transmission time slot. In our proposed method, the transmission time of a node is modified according to the transmission status of its neighbors, resulting in a shorter holdoff time, and consequently, reducing the transmission delay and throughput. The simulation results confirm the efficiency and performance of the proposed algorithm over the IEEE 802.16-mesh standard in terms of throughput and delay.