A Framework for a QoS Based Adaptive Topology Control System for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks with Multibeam Smart Antennas

Wireless ad hoc networks are self-configurable distributed systems. One of the major problems in traditional wireless ad hoc networks is interference. The interference could be reduced using smart directional antennas. In this study, multibeam smart antennas have been used. When using this type of antenna, two nodes can communicate when both the sending and receiving beams are pointing towards each other. Also, a node can only communicate with a subset of nodes in its neighborhood depending on the number of beams and their beamwidth. Thus, the network topology needs to be dynamic in this case, and by controlling the topology network, performance can be increased. In this paper, we present a framework of a cross layer approach of topology control that interacts with the routing layer and MAC layer and meets the required QoS of different data streams. The approach is fully distributed. When the network is initialized, the algorithm builds an initial connected topology and the routing algorithm uses this topology to find paths for the current communications. Then, depending on the network scenario, current communications and the required QoS, the topology control layer changes the topology to optimize the network performance. This study concerns suburban ad hoc networks (SAHN) where nodes tend to be fixed and are aware of their locations.