Applications of Geometric Algorithms to Reduce Interference in Wireless Mesh Network

In wireless mesh networks such as WLAN (IEEE 802.11s) or WMAN (IEEE 802.11), each node should help to relay packets of neighboring nodes toward gateway using multi-hop routing mechanisms. Wireless mesh networks usually intensively deploy mesh nodes to deal with the problem of dead spot communication. However, the higher density of nodes deployed, the higher radio interference occurred. This causes significant degradation of system performance. In this paper, we first convert network problems into geometry problems in graph theory, and then solve the interference problem by geometric algorithms. We first define line intersection in a graph to reflect radio interference problem in a wireless mesh network. We then use plan sweep algorithm to find intersection lines, if any; employ Voronoi diagram algorithm to delimit the regions among nodes; use Delaunay Triangulation algorithm to reconstruct the graph in order to minimize the interference among nodes. Finally, we use standard deviation to prune off those longer links (higher interference links) to have a further enhancement. The proposed hybrid solution is proved to be able to significantly reduce interference in a wireless mesh network in O(n log n) time complexity.Comment: 24 Pages, JGraph-Hoc Journal 201

Embedding of Virtual Network Requests over Static Wireless Multihop Networks

Network virtualization is a technology of running multiple heterogeneous network architecture on a shared substrate network. One of the crucial components in network virtualization is virtual network embedding, which provides a way to allocate physical network resources (CPU and link bandwidth) to virtual network requests. Despite significant research efforts on virtual network embedding in wired and cellular networks, little attention has been paid to that in wireless multi-hop networks, which is becoming more important due to its rapid growth and the need to share these networks among different business sectors and users. In this paper, we first study the root causes of new challenges of virtual network embedding in wireless multi-hop networks, and propose a new embedding algorithm that efficiently uses the resources of the physical substrate network. We examine our algorithm's performance through extensive simulations under various scenarios. Due to lack of competitive algorithms, we compare the proposed algorithm to five other algorithms, mainly borrowed from wired embedding or artificially made by us, partially with or without the key algorithmic ideas to assess their impacts.Comment: 22 page

Cross-layer Congestion Control, Routing and Scheduling Design in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

This paper considers jointly optimal design of crosslayer congestion control, routing and scheduling for ad hoc wireless networks. We first formulate the rate constraint and scheduling constraint using multicommodity flow variables, and formulate resource allocation in networks with fixed wireless channels (or single-rate wireless devices that can mask channel variations) as a utility maximization problem with these constraints. By dual decomposition, the resource allocation problem naturally decomposes into three subproblems: congestion control, routing and scheduling that interact through congestion price. The global convergence property of this algorithm is proved. We next extend the dual algorithm to handle networks with timevarying channels and adaptive multi-rate devices. The stability of the resulting system is established, and its performance is characterized with respect to an ideal reference system which has the best feasible rate region at link layer. We then generalize the aforementioned results to a general model of queueing network served by a set of interdependent parallel servers with time-varying service capabilities, which models many design problems in communication networks. We show that for a general convex optimization problem where a subset of variables lie in a polytope and the rest in a convex set, the dual-based algorithm remains stable and optimal when the constraint set is modulated by an irreducible finite-state Markov chain. This paper thus presents a step toward a systematic way to carry out cross-layer design in the framework of “layering as optimization decomposition” for time-varying channel models

Leveraging Physical Layer Capabilites: Distributed Scheduling in Interference Networks with Local Views

In most wireless networks, nodes have only limited local information about the state of the network, which includes connectivity and channel state information. With limited local information about the network, each node's knowledge is mismatched; therefore, they must make distributed decisions. In this paper, we pose the following question - if every node has network state information only about a small neighborhood, how and when should nodes choose to transmit? While link scheduling answers the above question for point-to-point physical layers which are designed for an interference-avoidance paradigm, we look for answers in cases when interference can be embraced by advanced PHY layer design, as suggested by results in network information theory. To make progress on this challenging problem, we propose a constructive distributed algorithm that achieves rates higher than link scheduling based on interference avoidance, especially if each node knows more than one hop of network state information. We compare our new aggressive algorithm to a conservative algorithm we have presented in [1]. Both algorithms schedule sub-networks such that each sub-network can employ advanced interference-embracing coding schemes to achieve higher rates. Our innovation is in the identification, selection and scheduling of sub-networks, especially when sub-networks are larger than a single link.Comment: 14 pages, Submitted to IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, October 201

Cross-layer schemes for performance optimization in wireless networks

Wireless networks are undergoing rapid progress and inspiring numerous applications. As the application of wireless networks becomes broader, they are expected to not only provide ubiquitous connectivity, but also support end users with certain service guarantees. End-to-end delay is an important Quality of Service (QoS) metric in multihop wireless networks. This dissertation addresses how to minimize end-to-end delay through joint optimization of network layer routing and link layer scheduling. Two cross-layer schemes, a loosely coupled cross-layer scheme and a tightly coupled cross-layer scheme, are proposed. The two cross-layer schemes involve interference modeling in multihop wireless networks with omnidirectional antenna. In addition, based on the interference model, multicast schedules are optimized to minimize the total end-to-end delay. Throughput is another important QoS metric in wireless networks. This dissertation addresses how to leverage the spatial multiplexing function of MIMO links to improve wireless network throughput. Wireless interference modeling of a half-duplex MIMO node is presented. Based on the interference model, routing, spatial multiplexing, and scheduling are jointly considered in one optimization model. The throughput optimization problem is first addressed in constant bit rate networks and then in variable bit rate networks. In a variable data rate network, transmitters can use adaptive coding and modulation schemes to change their data rates so that the data rates are supported by the Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio (SINR). The problem of achieving maximum throughput in a millimeter-wave wireless personal area network is studied --Abstract, page iv