A load dependent metric for balancing Internet traffic in Wireless Mesh Networks

In wireless mesh networks (WMNs) traffic is routed from mobile clients through a multihop wireless backbone to and from Internet gateways (IGWs). Because of their limited number, IGWs become the major traffic bottlenecks. The purpose of this work is to explore the benefits of introducing load-dependent routing metrics to increase WMN capacity and performance. We use weighted shortest path routing and introduce LAETT a weight metric that captures both traffic load and link quality. We compare the scheme to ETT and MIC, two load independent metrics, and show in simulation its benefits for various network and traffic configurations.