Interplay of Network Topology and Channel Assignment in Multi-Radio Multi-Rate Multi-Channel Wireless Mesh Networks

Employing multiple channels can effectively improve the network capacity in wireless mesh networks (WMNs). In multi-radio multi-channel WMNs, the channel assignment problem is to assign each radio a channel such that the network capacity is maximized. Since whether two nodes can communicate with each other depends on the channels they use, different channel assignments may lead to different network topologies. Most existing channel assignment algorithms are based on specific network topologies, such as trees, k-connected graphs, etc. This pre-determined network topology is then used as the input of the channel assignment algorithm. In this paper, we study the importance of the input network topology of channel assignment algorithms on the network performance, and propose an algorithm for constructing efficient input network topologies for existing channel assignment algorithms to increase the capacity gain due to multiple channels. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm improves the network capacity dramatically without the need to modify existing channel assignment algorithms.