Distributed spectrum-efficient routing algorithms in wireless networks

Abstract

This paper applies spectral efficiency as a performance measure for routing schemes and considers how to obtain a good route in a wireless network. The objective for this study is to combine different perspectives from networking and information theory in the design of routing schemes. The problem of finding the optimum route with the maximum spectral efficiency is difficult to solve in a distributed fashion. Motivated by an information-theoretic analysis, this paper proposes two suboptimal alternatives, namely, the approximatelyideal- path routing (AIPR) scheme and the distributed spectrumefficient routing (DSER) scheme. AIPR finds a path to approximate an optimum regular path and requires location information. DSER is more amenable to distributed implementations based on the Bellman-Ford or Dijkstra's algorithms. The spectral efficiencies of AIPR and DSER for random networks approach that of nearest-neighbor routing in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime and that of single-hop routing in the high SNR regime. In the moderate SNR regime, the spectral efficiency of DSER is up to twice that of nearest-neighbor or single-hop routing.