An optimization framework for opportunistic multipath routing in wireless mesh networks

Abstract—We consider wireless mesh networks, and exploit the inherent broadcast nature of wireless by making use of multipath routing. We present an optimization framework that enables us to derive optimal flow control, routing, scheduling, and rate adaptation schemes, where we use network coding to ease the routing problem. We prove optimality and derive a primal-dual algorithm that lays the basis for a practical protocol. We use simulation to show on realistic topologies that we can achieve 20-200 % throughput improvement compared to single path routing, and several times compared to a recent related opportunistic protocol (MORE). Index Terms—wireless mesh networks, network coding, op-portunistic routing, broadcast, multi-path routing, flow control, fairness, rate adaptation I