Evaluation of a potential energy methodology for joint routing and scheduling in wireless mesh networks

In wireless mesh networks, joint optimization of routing and link scheduling within a time-division multiplexing approach is commonly sought to provide end users with high data rates. However, the strategies proposed to this end usually proceed by means of complex optimization models, which also often rely on oversimplified assumptions, especially for what concerns wireless interference. In the present paper, we draw a novel general framework to perform joint routing and scheduling avoiding these limitations. We evaluate sequences of link activation modes, i.e., sets of transmissions which can be performed simultaneously, and we introduce the concept of potential energy of a mesh network, thanks to which we outline efficient selection of link allocation modes in order to jointly solve routing and scheduling. A heuristic strategy derived within this framework is numerically evaluated by means of simulation and is shown to achieve very good performance, obtained with extremely low computational complexity.