Virtual access network embedding in wireless mesh networks

Network virtualization of a wireless mesh network (WMN) is an economical way for different subscribers to customize their exclusive access networks through a common network infrastructure. The most critical task of network virtualization is virtual network embedding, which can be divided into two sub-problems: node mapping and link mapping. Although there exist approaches to virtual network embedding in wired networks, the characteristics of WMNs make virtual network embedding become a unique and challenging problem. In this paper, virtual access network embedding is studied for WMNs. To support flexible resource allocation in virtual access network embedding, each access node is designed based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) dual-radio architecture. Through subcarrier allocation on each link, virtual access networks are gracefully separated from each other. To coordinate channel assignment across different links under the constraint of a limited number of orthogonal channels, a novel channel allocation algorithm is proposed to exploit partially-overlapped channels to improve resource utilization. Since the virtual access network embedding problem is NP-hard, a heuristic algorithm is developed based on an enhanced genetic algorithm to obtain an approximate but effective solution. Simulation results illustrate that the virtual access network embedding framework developed in this paper works effectively in WMNs.