Efficient interference-aware channel allocation in multi-radio wireless mesh networks

In wireless mesh networks, mesh nodes equipped with multiple radios tuned to multiple non-overlapping channels bring high network performance. As wireless mesh networks have been deployed in the urban area, dynamic channel allocation is more challengeable because co-located wireless networks are likely to be tuned to the same channels and may interfere with communication. This paper proposes an interference-aware channel allocation algorithm considering an external interference for multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh networks. Each mesh node uses a novel technique to estimate the usage status of all the channels within its interference range and assigns channels dynamically to radios to minimize interference within the mesh network and between the mesh network and co-located wireless networks. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can improve the network throughput substantially compared to a channel allocation regardless of external interference.