Performance of Flow Allocation with Successive Interference Cancelation for Random Access WMNs

In this study we explore the gain that can be achieved by jointly allocating flow on multiple paths and employing successive interference cancelation (SIC), for random access wireless mesh networks with multi-packet reception capabilities. More precisely, we explore a distributed flow allocation scheme aimed at maximizing average aggregate flow throughput, while also providing bounded delay, when SIC is employed. Simulation results derived from three illustrative topologies show that the gain over treating interference as noise (IAN) for this scheme can be up to 15.2%, for an SINR threshold value equal to 0.5. For SINR threshold values as high as 2.0 however, SIC does not always result in higher throughput. In some scenarios explored, the gain of SIC over IAN is insignificant, while in some others treating interference as noise proves better. The reason is that, although SIC improves the throughput on a specific link, it also increases the interference imposed on neighbouring receivers. We also show that, the gain of applying SIC is more profound in cases of a large degree of asymmetry among interfering links.