Stub Wireless Multi-hop Networks using Self-configurable Wi-Fi Basic Service Set Cascading

TL;DR

This paper introduces WiFIX-DR, a multi-radio, multi-channel solution for wireless multi-hop networks that enhances scalability and addresses common issues like hidden nodes and unfairness by self-configuring interconnected BSSs.

Contribution

The paper presents WiFIX-DR, a novel self-configurable multi-radio, multi-channel WMN solution that reuses IEEE 802.11 mechanisms to improve scalability and robustness.

Findings

WiFIX-DR improves network scalability over single-radio WMNs.

Experimental results demonstrate better robustness and fairness.

The solution effectively reuses existing IEEE 802.11 mechanisms.

Abstract

The increasing trend in wireless Internet access has been boosted by IEEE 802.11. However, the application scenarios are still limited by its short radio range. Stub Wireless Multi-hop Networks (WMNs) are a robust, flexible, and cost-effective solution to the problem. Yet, typically they are formed by single radio mesh nodes and suffer from hidden node, unfairness, and scalability problems. We propose a simple multi-radio, multi-channel WMN solution, named Wi-Fi network Infrastructure eXtension - Dual-Radio (WiFIX-DR), to overcome these problems. WiFIX-DR reuses IEEE 802.11 built-in mechanisms and beacons to form a Stub WMN as a set of self-configurable interconnected Basic Service Sets (BSSs). Experimental results show the improved scalability enabled by the proposed solution when compared to single-radio WMNs.