A Cross-Layer Architecture to Exploit Multi-Channel Diversity with a Single Transceiver

—The design of multi-channel multi-hop wireless mesh networks is centered around the way nodes synchronize when they need to communicate. However, existing designs are confined to the MAC layer – they are based on either negotiation on a rendezvous control channel, or on optimistic synchronization. Both approaches scale poorly as the network grows in coverage and density. The rendezvous control channel may become the bottleneck, while optimistic synchronization may incur substantial overhead – especially amongst nodes close to a gateway, where the mesh traffic converges. In this paper, we describe Dominion – a cross-layer architecture that includes both medium access control and routing. At the MAC layer, a node switches channels in a deterministic manner to address the scalability issue. At the network layer, a Dominion node routes traffic along the shortest distance across both spatial and frequency domains, based on the deterministic channel-hopping schedule and network c...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Jay A. Patel, Haiyun Luo, Indranil Gupta
• Keywords: Communications, INFOCOM 2007, Mac Layer, Optimistic Synchronization, Rendezvous Control Channel