Performance of the hybrid wireless mesh protocol for wireless mesh networks

Wireless mesh networks offer a new way of providing end-user access and deploying network infrastructure. Though mesh networks offer a price competitive solution to wired networks, they also come with a set of new challenges such as optimal path selection, channel utilization, and load balancing. These challenges must first be overcome before satisfactory network stability and throughput can be achieved. This paper studies the performance of the Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol, the proposed routing protocol for the upcoming IEEE 802.11s standard. HWMP supports two modes of path selection: reactive and proactive. Two scenarios of different node density are considered for both path selection modes. The results presented in this paper are based on a simulation model of the HWMP specification in the IEEE 802.11s draft 4.0 implemented in OPNET Modeler.