QoS-Driven Node Cooperative Resource Allocation for Wireless Mesh Networks with Service Differentiation

Node cooperation has been demonstrated promising in ameliorating system performance for wireless networks. To effectively and efficiently provision quality-of-service (QoS) at the packet level in wireless mesh networks (WMNs) supporting heterogeneous traffic, medium access control (MAC)-layer resource allocation and service differentiation are imperative. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity node cooperative resource allocation approach for WMNs, taking subcarrier allocation, partner allocation, QoS assurance, and service differentiation into account. With beneficial node cooperation, our proposed approach is shown to be promising in provisioning QoS and increasing system throughput. The proposed approach also achieves Pareto optimality, making efficient use of network resources.