Greedy Least Interference Forwarding algorithm using directional antennas for cellular ad-hoc networks

Cellular ad-hoc networks facilitate rapid deployment of familiar communication technology in hostile battlefield environments. They are comprised of randomly organized portable base stations that share the same frequency spectrum and cooperatively relay each other's traffic to centralized base stations. Such portable base stations have limited battery power and processing capabilities. Owing to its simplicity and minimal requirements, Geographic Greedy Forwarding (GGF) algorithms are generally well suited for cellular ad-hoc networks. But GGF algorithms are not interference aware. Interference between base stations is a major factor limiting the achievable throughput capacity in such networks. Most previously proposed multi-hop greedy routing algorithms, suggest using directional antennas or power control mechanisms to mitigate the effects of interference. Others take a centralized approach to routing thus rendering them impractical for large scale ad-hoc networks. In this paper we propose a Greedy Least Interference Forwarding (GLIF) algorithm that proactively avoids interference while using minimal network topology information. Simulations have shown that GLIF achieves throughput improvements over basic GGF algorithms that use directional antennas and power control mechanisms alone to avoid interference.