A delay-constrained and priority-aware channel assignment algorithm for efficient multicast in wireless mesh networks

Many popular applications of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) depend on delay-constraint multicast communication. To support such multicast communication, this paper proposes a distributed and polynomial-time heuristic channel assignment algorithm for WMNs. The proposed algorithm considers that the multicast session requests arrive dynamically and have different priorities. When a delay-constrained multicast session is issued, the multicast tree corresponding to the session is first established. The proposed algorithm divides the path delay constraint of the multicast tree into a number of the node-based delay constraints. This algorithm also devises multiple channel selection criteria to exploit all available channels of the WMN. Using these selection criteria, each node on the multicast tree can select the best channel to meet its node delay constraint and minimize the total interference for all existing multicast sessions. In the interference minimization, the priority factor is taken into account to prevent high-priority multicast sessions from incurring more interference than low-priority multicast sessions. Finally, this paper performs simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed heuristic channel assignment algorithm through comparison with the optimal solution.

► Many popular applications of wireless mesh networks (WMNs) depend on delay-constraint multicast communication.
► To support such multicast communication, this paper proposes a distributed and polynomial-time heuristic channel assignment algorithm for WMNs.
► This algorithm also devises multiple channel selection criteria to exploit all available channels of the WMN.
► Using these selection criteria, each node on the multicast tree can select the best channel to meet its node delay constraint and minimize the total interference for all existing multicast sessions.