Interference in wireless multihop ad-hoc network.pdf

Interference in Wireless Multi-hop Ad-hoc Networks and its Effect on Network Capacity R. Hekmat and P. Van Mieghem Delft University of Technology Information Technology and Systems P.O. Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands Email: R.Hekmat@its.tudelft.nl, P.VanMieghem@its.tudelft.nl Abstract—In this paper we propose a new model to calculate interference levels in wireless multi-hop ad-hoc networks. This model computes the expected value of Carrier to Interference ra- tio (C/I) by taking into account the number of nodes, density of nodes, radio propagation aspects, multi-hop characteristics of the network, and the amount of relay traffic. The expected values of C/I are used to determine network capacity and data throughput per node. Our model uses a regular lattice for possible locations of mo- bile nodes. This enables us to calculate the expected values of C/I, without having detailed information about movement patterns and exact location of all nodes at any moment. Based on this model we have evaluated effects of variations in the network size, network density and traffic load on C/I , and consequently throughput of the network. Our calculations suggest that interference is upper- bounded in wireless ad-hoc networks that use carrier sensing for medium access control. Further, from the point of view of through- put optimization, our calculations show limits on the network size and input data rates per node. I. INTRODUCTION In wireless ad-hoc networks communication between nodes takes place over radio channels. As long as all nodes use the same frequency band for communication, any node-to-node transmission will add to the level of interference experienced by other users. Variations in network size (number of nodes), net- work density (relative positions of nodes) and traffic per node could have strong influence on interference experienced by mo- bile nodes throughout the network. It is well known that radio channel capacity decreases as the wanted signal carrier