Cross-layer design of multi-radio multi-channel capable MIMO-based WMNs

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are increasingly being deployed as backbone wireless networks for broadband Internet access. Use of multiple radios and multiple channels (MRMC) can bring substantial throughput improvement to these networks. In addition, multi-antennas or Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology has great potential for improving the throughput of WMNs via spatial reuse and/or spatial multiplexing. In this paper, we investigate the cross layer design of routing, scheduling, channel allocation, and stream allocation in MRMC capable WMNs, where nodes are equipped with multiple antennas. In this paper, we model the radio and interference constraints on MRMC capable MIMO-based WMNs. We then formulate a joint routing, scheduling, channel allocation, and stream allocation (JRSCSA) problem with the objective of satisfying the traffic demands of a set of end-to-end sessions such that network schedule time is minimized. A column generation-based method is proposed to solve the JRSCSA problem efficiently. Simulation results are presented to evaluate the network performance and it is shown that MRMC capable MIMO-based WMNs have significantly lower network schedule time compared to single-radio single-channel networks.