Optimized group channel assignment using computational geometry over wireless mesh networks

Abstract

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are an evolving division in the field of wireless networks due to their ease of deployment and assured last mile connectivity. It sets out a favorable situation to guarantee the Internet connectivity to all the mobile and static nodes. A wireless environment is dynamic, heterogeneous, and unpredictable as the nodes communicate through the unguided links called channels. The number of nonoverlapping channels available is less than the number of mesh nodes; hence, the same channel will be shared among many nodes. This scarcity of the channels causes interference and degrades the performance of the network. In this paper, we have presented a group based channel assignment method to minimize the interference. We have formulated a mathematical model using Nonlinear Programming (NLP). The objective function defines the channel assignment strategy which eventually reduces the interference.We have adapted the cognitive model of Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (DPSO), for solving the optimization function. The channel assignment problem is an NP hard problem; hence, we have taken the benefits of a stochastic approach to find a solution that is optimal or near optimal. Finally, we have performed simulations to investigate the efficiency of our proposed work.