Channel Allocation in 802.11-Based Mesh Networks

Abstract — IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) has been used beyond its original intended purpose of a tether-free LAN. In this paper, we are interested in the use of 802.11 in mesh networks. Specifically, we consider those which involve directional antennas and longdistance point-to-point links. In recent work, the 2P MAC protocol has been designed to suit such a network architecture. In this paper, we assume the use of the 2P MAC protocol in the links of the network, and consider the problem of link channel allocation. We first formulate the problem of minimizing the mismatch between link capacities desired by the network operator and that achieved under a channel allocation. We show that this problem is NP-hard. We then explore several heuristics for channel allocation and find a set of heuristics that achieve the optimal allocation in most scenarios. I.