Interference estimation for channel selection in wireless mesh networks

Nowadays, a number of wireless devices compete for medium on each channel and many nodes are in the relation of hidden terminal. Therefore, the interference-aware channel allocation becomes important to efficiently manage the networks. We address the problem of estimating the interfering node to select the least interfered channel in a multi-channel, multi-radio wireless mesh network (WMN). Incorrect interfering node estimation easily overestimates or underestimates the interference of each channel and it causes the wrong channel selection. We introduce an interference estimation method adapting to the varying interference area according to the data rate and radio propagation property. We use simulations to validate the accuracy of the proposed method and compare to other schemes in various scenarios.