Channel assignment techniques for 802.11-based multiradio wireless mesh networks

This chapter gives an in-depth coverage of the area of channel assignment in 802.11-based multi-radio wireless mesh networks (MR-WMN). Multiple channels in a MR-WMN can substantially increase the aggregate capacity of the Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) if the channels are assigned to the nodes such that the overall interference is limited. To this end, use of graph theory to understand and address this problem facilitated by different representations of MR-WMNs is explained. Further, the inherent properties of the 802.11 radio’s physical layer are identified to explain their influence on channel interference. We also examine the ways by which the emerging 802.11k standard will help to carry out an effective channel assignment. The usefulness of this chapter is made complete by giving a taxonomy of existing solutions, which is used as a preview to provide an extensive survey of the key research approaches proposed in the literature for channel assignment. We have contributed by way of putting together a comprehensive overview of the work in this area, which we believe does not exist with a similar scope. This chapter has been written such that it can be enjoyed and grasped by students as well as professionals.