Joint resource allocation and routing for OFDMA-based broadband wireless mesh networks

In this paper, we investigate joint resource allocation and routing for a wireless mesh network consisting of fixed access points inter-connected through multi-channel wireless links. Some of the mesh routers are assumed to function as gateways with high bandwidth connections to a wired network and the mesh network is assumed to provide multi-hop capability where the traffic entering the mesh via gateways may be carried over multiple wireless hops towards the destination mesh routers. The main objective of this work is to optimize resource allocation and routing in such networks; in this regard, we study a cross-layer optimization problem that includes power control, channel allocation, link scheduling and routing. We provide results highlighting the capacity benefits of our proposed approach; these results indicate that significant throughput improvements can be achieved with cross-layer system design.