Promoting wired links in wireless mesh networks: an efficient engineering solution

Behrang Barekatain; Kaamran Raahemifar; Alfonso Ariza Quintana; Alicia Triviño Cabrera

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119679

Promoting wired links in wireless mesh networks: an efficient engineering solution

PLoS One. 2015 Mar 20;10(3):e0119679. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119679. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Behrang Barekatain¹, Kaamran Raahemifar¹, Alfonso Ariza Quintana², Alicia Triviño Cabrera³

Affiliations

¹ Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
² Dpto Tecnología Electrónica, E.T.S.I, Telecomunicación, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain.
³ Escuela de Ingenierías, Dpto. Ingeniería Eléctrica, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain.

Abstract

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) cannot completely guarantee good performance of traffic sources such as video streaming. To improve the network performance, this study proposes an efficient engineering solution named Wireless-to-Ethernet-Mesh-Portal-Passageway (WEMPP) that allows effective use of wired communication in WMNs. WEMPP permits transmitting data through wired and stable paths even when the destination is in the same network as the source (Intra-traffic). Tested with four popular routing protocols (Optimized Link State Routing or OLSR as a proactive protocol, Dynamic MANET On-demand or DYMO as a reactive protocol, DYMO with spanning tree ability and HWMP), WEMPP considerably decreases the end-to-end delay, jitter, contentions and interferences on nodes, even when the network size or density varies. WEMPP is also cost-effective and increases the network throughput. Moreover, in contrast to solutions proposed by previous studies, WEMPP is easily implemented by modifying the firmware of the actual Ethernet hardware without altering the routing protocols and/or the functionality of the IP/MAC/Upper layers. In fact, there is no need for modifying the functionalities of other mesh components in order to work with WEMPPs. The results of this study show that WEMPP significantly increases the performance of all routing protocols, thus leading to better video quality on nodes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Computer Communication Networks*
Wireless Technology*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by funding through Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to Kaamran Raahemifar. Grant approved under the Application Number: 129619. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.