Multi-hop wireless mesh networks are becoming increasingly important elements of edge networks in the Internet. These networks of static nodes provide community networking, distributed sensing, and Internet access. In each case, the primary advantage of a mesh is its easy deployability and upgradability.
Despite these advantages, mesh networks have not seen widespread adoption. The primary reason for this is a lack of attention to the transport performance of such networks, which leads to poor end-user experience. The central challenge to improving transport performance in mesh networks is to make the transport protocol aware of the complex interference that exists in multi-hop wireless networks.
Intellectual Merit. This work will explore the design space of transport protocols for mesh networks. It will focus on two classes of designs: a) easy to implement, fair and efficient schemes that ensure that competing traffic is correctly throttled when congestion is detected inside the network, and b) near-optimal schemes estimate available network capacity and apportion it to flows in a fair and efficient manner.
Broad Impact. The proposed work can spur the adoption of mesh networks in a future Internet, and influence architectural choices in its design. Mesh networks are already becoming the networking technology of choice in a variety of locations including airports, hotels, convention centers, shopping malls, education facilities, and hospitals. With their increasing economic importance, this project is poised to make impact, seeking as it does to improve the performance of mesh networks.
