Protocols and architectures for channel assignment in wireless mesh networks

The use of multiple channels can substantially improve the performance of wireless mesh networks. Considering that the IEEE PHY specification permits the simultaneous operation of three non-overlapping channels in the 2.4 GHz band and 12 non-overlapping channels in the 5 GHz band, a major challenge in wireless mesh networks is how to efficiently assign these available channels in order to optimize the network performance. We survey and classify the current techniques proposed to solve this problem in both single-radio and multi-radio wireless mesh networks. This paper also discusses the issues in the design of multi-channel protocols and architectures.