Queuing Based Traffic Model for Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMN) provide network access for mobile users. Therefore, most traffic flows in WMNs are to and from the wired networks. Some mesh nodes, called Gateways connect directly to the wired networks, through which mesh clients can access the resources that reside on the wired networks. However, there are usually only a few of Gateways in a WMN. The packet processing ability of every wireless node is limited. As a result, traffic loads of mesh nodes affect greatly the network performance. In this paper, we put forward a queuing based traffic model for WMNs. In the model, both Gateways and mesh nodes at the largest hop count from the gateways are regarded as service stations with infinite capacity, whereas the other mesh nodes are modeled as service stations with finite capacity. The model also takes into account impacts of interference. We then analyze the network throughput, average packet loss and packet delay on each hop nodes using the proposed traffic model. Results show that the proposed model is accurate in modeling the characteristics of traffic loads in WMNs.