Design of the QoS framework for the IEEE 802.16 mesh networks 

[[abstract]]IEEE 802.16 (WiMax) technology is designed to support broadband speeds over wireless networks for the coming era of broadband wireless access (BWA). IEEE 802.16 is expected to provide transmission of high-rate and high-volume multimedia data streams for fixed and mobile applications. As an extension of point-to-multipoint (PMP) configuration, the IEEE 802.16 mesh mode provides a quicker and more flexible approach for network deployment. Multimedia networking requires quality-of-service (QoS) support, which demands elaborate mechanisms in addition to the four service types defined in the specification. By examining standard centralized and distributed scheduling/routing schemes in the mesh mode from QoS aspect, a BS-controlled and delay-sensitive scheduling/routing scheme is proposed in the paper. Associate mechanisms including admission control, flow setup and link state monitoring are also proposed. Integration of the proposed mechanisms is presented as a complete QoS framework. Simulation study has demonstrated that the average delay as well as the delay jitters per hop in the proposed scheme is smaller than that of the distributed scheme and much smaller than that of the centralized scheme. Furthermore, proposed mechanisms can also achieve higher throughput than the contrasts and generate much smaller signaling overhead, making the proposed framework a promising scheme for multimedia support in the IEEE 802.16 mesh network. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.[[note]]SC