Backpressure Policies for Wireless ad hoc Networks

Interference in ad hoc wireless networks causes the performance of traditional networking protocols to suffer. However, some user applications in ad hoc networks demand high throughput and low end-user delay. In the literature, the backpressure policy, i.e. queue backlog differential-based joint routing and scheduling, is known to be throughput-optimal with robust support for traffic load fluctuations \cite{Tssailus92}. Unfortunately, many backpressure-based algorithms cannot be implemented due to high end-user delay, inaccurate assumptions for interference, and high control overhead in distributed scenarios. We develop new backpressure based approaches to address these issues. We first propose a heuristic packet forwarding scheme that solves the issue of high end-user delay and still provides near-optimal throughput. Next we develop a novel interference model that provides simple yet accurate interference relationships among users. Such a model is helpful in designing a simple backpressure scheduling algorithm that does not violate realistic interference constraints. Finally we develop distributed backpressure algorithms based on our proposed ideas. Our distributed algorithms provide throughput performance close to the optimal and have low control overhead and simple implementation.