Understanding interference and carrier sensing in wireless mesh networks

Author

Lee, Jeongkeun ; Lee, Sung-Ju ; Kim, Wonho ; Jo, Daehyung ; Kwon, Taekyoung ; Choi, Yanghee

Author_Institution

Hewlett-Packard Laboratorie, CA, USA

Volume

47

Issue

7

fYear

2009

fDate

7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

102

Lastpage

109

Abstract

Wireless mesh networks aim to provide high-speed Internet service without costly network infrastructure deployment and maintenance. The main obstacle in achieving high-capacity wireless mesh networks is interference between the mesh links. In this article, we analyze the carrier sensing and interference relations between two wireless links and measure the impact of these relations on link capacity on an indoor 802.11a mesh network testbed. We show that asymmetric carrier sensing and/or interference relations commonly exist in wireless mesh networks, and we study their impact on the link capacity and fair-channel access. In addition, we investigate the effect of traffic rate on link capacity in the presence of interference.

Keywords

carrier sense multiple access; radio links; radiofrequency interference; wireless LAN; Internet service; carrier sensing; indoor 802.11a mesh network; interference; interference relation; link capacity; mesh links; traffic rate; wireless mesh networks; Broadcasting; Interference; Laboratories; Multiaccess communication; Physical layer; Programmable control; Testing; Throughput; Wireless mesh networks; Wireless sensor networks;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MCOM.2009.5183479

Filename

5183479