Practical considerations for channel assignment in wireless mesh networks

In multi-radio wireless mesh networks (WMNs) several radios can operate within one node simultaneously on different channels. Due to frequency selective fading and varying output powers of WLAN cards the received signal strength on channels in the U-NII band can differ by several dB. Furthermore, power leakage from neighboring channels in the frequency spectrum can cause adjacent channel interference (ACI). Using a IEEE 802.11a testbed, we experimentally evaluate the achievable throughput of a multi-radio mesh network in a string topology under the impact of ACI and channel heterogeneity. Our results show that for low PHY rates the channel separation is a good indicator for throughput. However, for high PHY rates the propagation properties of a specific channel also need to be considered. Based on the results we provide recommendations for designing channel assignment algorithms for IEEE 802.11-based WMNs.