Receiver-Based Channel Allocation in Cognitive Radio Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, we study the channel allocation problem in cognitive radio wireless mesh networks (CR-WMNs). We aim at finding an allocation strategy that guarantees quality of service (QoS) (link reliability), maximizes network coverage, and alleviates the need for a common control channel to coordinate the communication process. The allocation of a particular channel to a mesh client (MC) is considered feasible if the MC can establish connectivity with the backbone network in both the upstream and the downstream directions, and has the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the uplink and the downlink with its parent mesh router (MR) within a predetermined threshold. A receiver-based channel allocation (RBA) model that achieves the aforementioned objectives is proposed (channel assignment under this model can be proven to be NP-hard). We then formulate a mixed integer linear program, of the channel allocation problem under the proposed model, and compare its performance to that of two other baseline models, namely, transmitter-based and all-tunable channel allocation strategies. The results prove the superiority of the proposed model. We also developed a heuristic algorithm, which is shown to be an accurate algorithm.