Towards control algorithms for distributed wireless networks

Abstract—In recent years wireless networks have become a mainstream part of many network environments. They are now moving from a best effort service to implementing Quality-of-Service (QoS) to provide users with the reliability and bandwidth needed to handle today’s traffic types such as VoIP & streaming audio/video as well as traditional web traffic. Indeed, new standards such as WiMAX specify QoS mechanisms to achieve this functionality. However, little work has yet been done on methods to measure the performance and provide optimization functions for these networks. In this paper, we review some basic principles of routing and metrics before moving to look at the effect on performance of changing some of the parameters in the routing protocols. Finally we present some ideas on further work which will lead to the establishment of control algorithms to optimize performance. I. A REVIEW In this paper we aim to show some ideas which will lead to the development of control algorithms for distributed wireless networks. Firstly, we present a review of some routing protocols and measurement metrics which we later use in our simulations. We move on to look at the results of some simulations carried out and their deviation from our expectations. Finally, we present some future work we intend to carry out to move along the path to developing some control algorithms. A. Routing Protocols There are a large number of ad-hoc routing protocols described in the literature. Many have been devised and implemented for specific situations where using an existing protocol would be impractical. However, they are generally based upon a subset of well known protocols which have then been heavily adapted for the desired conditions. Existing protocols can be categorized into specific groups. The main two are reactive and proactive however groups We would like to acknowledge Agilent Technologies who are generously funding this project and also the support of the Scottish Funding Council for the Joint Research Institute with Heriot-Watt University which is a part of th