A localized and distributed channel assignment scheme for wireless mesh networks

We propose a localized channel assignment scheme called LOCA for multi-channel multi-radio (MCMR) wireless mesh networks. The scheme combines the advantage of using multiple channels with random assignment, typical of the dynamic/hybrid approach, with the advantage of using all node interfaces for both transmission and reception, as done in static assignment. Since optimal channel assignment in MCMR networks is an NP-hard problem, we resort to a heuristic, which uses only localized (single-hop) information to perform channel assignment. Also, we consider that the BATMAN routing protocol is implemented in the mesh network and we exploit the local information that nodes can collect through BATMAN to implement our strategy. Simulation results obtained through ns2 show that the proposed scheme ensures a high network connectivity level and that a low number of reassignment procedures is needed to adapt the channel usage to the changes in the network topology or in the interference level. Furthermore, when compared against a static approach, LOCA provides significantly better performance in terms of throughput and packet delivery ratio, for networks with low-medium node density.