Wireless mesh networks: Energy - capacity tradeoff and physical layer parameters

This paper is focused on broadband wireless mesh networks based on OFDMA resource management, considering a realistic SINR model of the physical layer with a fine tuned power control at each node. A linear programming model using column generation leads to compute power efficient schedules with high network capacity. Correlation between capacity and energy consumption is analyzed as well as the impact of physical layer parameters - SINR threshold and path-loss exponent. We highlight that there is no significant tradeoff between capacity and energy when the power consumption of idle nodes is important. We also show that both energy consumption and network capacity are very sensitive to the SINR threshold variation.