Link-Sharing Backpressure Routing In Wireless Multi-Hop Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a MaxU link-sharing method for backpressure routing in wireless multi-hop networks, improving efficiency and capacity by addressing last-packet issues without extra control overhead.

Contribution

It proposes a novel MaxU link-sharing approach that removes the need for exclusive commodity selection in BP routing, enhancing performance and network capacity.

Findings

MaxU SP-BP reduces last-packet problem

It slightly increases network capacity

No additional control message overhead

Abstract

Backpressure (BP) routing and scheduling is an established resource allocation method for wireless multi-hop networks, noted for its fully distributed operation and maximum queue stability. Recent advances in shortest path-biased BP routing (SP-BP) mitigate shortcomings such as slow startup and random walks, yet exclusive link-level commodity selection still causes last-packet problem and bandwidth underutilization. By revisiting the Lyapunov drift theory underlying BP, we show that the legacy exclusive commodity selection is unnecessary, and propose a Maximum Utility (MaxU) link-sharing method to expand its performance envelope without increasing control message overhead. Numerical results show that MaxU SP-BP substantially mitigates the last-packet problem and slightly expands the network capacity region.