A Model for the Loss of Hello-Messages in a Wireless Mesh Network

The links in an ad hoc or wireless mesh network are normally kept alive by the exchange of Hello-messages between neighbouring nodes. These Hello-messages are prone to collisions with traffic from hidden nodes. If several Hello-messages are lost due to overlapping transmissions, the node expecting the Hello-messages erroneously assumes that the link is down. This is called an apparent link failure. This paper provides an analytical model for the loss of Hello-messages in a mesh network. Knowing the probability of a lost Hello-message, the probability of apparent link failures can easily be found, which can further be used in reliability analysis of wireless mesh networks.