Joint optimization of routing and scheduling for higher throughput in IEEE 802.16 mesh networks

Wireless mesh networks are emerging to be a promising technique for the next generation wireless networks. Specifically, the MAC layer in IEEE Standard 802.16-2004 supports mesh mode. In this paper, an optimal scheduling scheme is proposed to increase the network throughput. The problem of finding the maximum network throughput in the optimal scheduling scheme can be formulated as an integer linear problem. Meanwhile, a minimal interference routing algorithm is introduced to improve the network throughput by reducing the interference among the links. Furthermore, the simulation results show that the combination of the optimal scheduling scheme and the minimal interference routing algorithm can achieve significant improvement in the throughput performance.