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TDM MAC protocol design and implementation for wireless mesh networks

We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a Time Division Multiplex (TDM) MAC protocol for multi-hop wireless mesh networks using a programmable wireless platform. Extensive research has been devoted to optimal scheduling algorithms for multi-hop wireless networks assuming a perfect TDM MAC protocol. However, the problem of designing and implementing such a protocol has not received due attention. We introduce a design framework that addresses the three main challenges that comprise this problem: (i) How to calibrate and optimize the TDM MAC protocol parameters given a wireless platform, (ii) how to achieve network-wide synchronization with high accuracy, minimal overhead, and most importantly, bounded delay, and (iii) how to integrate the synchronization algorithm with the TDM MAC protocol state machine using minimal hardware resources. We apply our design framework to our platform and evaluate the resulting TDM MAC protocol through controlled experiments in a wireless mesh testbed. The results demonstrate the protocol's ability to provide fairness and graceful performance degradation under packet losses and multi-hop traffic patterns that arise in mesh network deployments.