Multiflows in multi-channel multi-radio multihop wireless networks

This paper studies maximum multiflow (MMF) and maximum concurrent multiflow (MCMF) in muliti-channel multi-radio multihop wireless networks under the 802.11 interference model or the protocol interference model. We introduce a fine-grained network representation of multi-channel multi-radio multihop wireless networks and present some essential topological properties of its associated conflict graph. By exploiting these properties, we develop practical polynomial approximation algorithms for MMF and MCMF with constant approximation bounds regardless of the number of channels and radios. Under the 802.11 interference model, their approximation bounds are at most 20 in general and at most 8 with uniform interference radii; under the protocol interference model, if the interference radius of each node is at least c times its communication radius, their approximation bounds are at most 2 (⌈π/ arcsin c-1/2c⌉ + 1). In addition, we also prove that if the number of channels is bounded by a constant (which is typical in practical networks), both MMF and MCMF admit a polynomial-time approximation scheme under the 802.11 interference model or under the protocol interference model with some additional mild conditions.