Load-aware routing protocol for multi-radio Wireless Mesh Networks

Abstract

This paper addresses the interference and load imbalance problems in multi-radio infrastructure mesh networks where each mesh node is equipped with multiple radio interfaces and a subset of nodes serve as Internet gateways. To provide backbone support, it is necessary to reduce interference and balance load in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Therefore, this paper proposes a Load-aware routing protocol for Multi-Radio WMNs, called LMR. A load balancing technique and load-aware channel selection are both incorporated into the route discovery phase of the routing protocol, thereby helping to find paths that are better in terms of balancing load and reducing the inter-flow and intra-flow interference in multi-radio networks. Simulation results show that LMR can significantly enhance the overall network performance in multi-radio mesh networks.