Distributed bandwidth reservation strategies to support efficient bandwidth utilization and QoS on a per-link basis in IEEE 802.16 Mesh Networks

The IEEE 802.16 standard specifies a mesh mode of operation which permits the setup of wireless mesh networks (WMN) with per-link QoS support. The standard specifies both distributed as well as centralized reservation schemes. Distributed scheduling is highly flexible, and enables operation of the WMN even in the absence of a central controlling instance or base station. A systematic study of strategies for distributed scheduling in the IEEE 802.16 MeSH mode is, however, missing. In this paper we model the individual links in the 802.16 WMN and design and derive efficient strategies for distributed scheduling to reserve bandwidth required for transmission on the modelled link. Additionally, we evaluate our proposed reservation model using simulations, study the impact of key parameters and identify issues for further research in WiMAX based WMNs.