Distributed Diffusion-Based Mesh Algorithm for Distributed Mesh Construction in Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks

Reliable mesh communications in dense wireless ad hoc networks require the creation of both self organizing mesh structures and mesh routing protocols to accomplish efficient and reliable communications with the added infrastructure redundancy. To date, much of the research in the area has focused on communication protocol design. The investigations often are based on a mesh network structure already fully formed and some times fixed to the underlying physical node topology. Therefore, there is a need for a platform to build mesh networks with structural flexibility and to provide management functions to network- and application-level protocols. In this paper, we propose the distributed diffusion-based mesh (DDM) algorithm for distributed mesh construction that instructs distributed nodes on how to make the desired connections with their neighbors. We accomplish this by introducing the concept of connection rule, which defines allowed connections at each mesh node, combined with a token signal that initiates and controls the structure and boundaries of the resulting mesh. We argue that slight changes in mesh network structure greatly affect network performance and show how the combined use of rule and token signal offers control over the resulting mesh structure. This methodology can be used for cross-layer optimization to achieve a network topology suitable for different network applications. As compared with existing protocols, our algorithm also provides a large reduction in communication overhead.