Interactions of legacy internet traffic with multihop wireless networks

ions are certainly needed for a scalable analysis of complex networks. One very widely used abstraction is the SINR model [46]: The environment is left out, and nodes are assumed to be located in free space. All nodes are assumed to be perfect isotropic transmitters and receivers. No external interference or background noise exists. With these assumptions, it is easy to calculate for each transmission a received signal strength at each other node, as this only depends on the distance of the two nodes. All incoming signals are summed up at each node, and if the payload signal level exceeds the sum of interfering signals by a predefined margin, the signal assumed to be received successfully. The original paper (see above) uses this model to provide an asymptotic upper bound to the total capacity of a wireless network. From this very basic model, several others, more advanced propagation models have been developed. Qi and Shen [84] provide an overview and comparison of the propagation models available for the very widely used Ns-2 platform. Recent results [11] related to the work in this document also contributes to these models. Obviously such models are useful to estimate some aspects of a wireless system. Yet, we do not know of a universal method to apply the results from such models to a real, much more complex system. This has to be done very carefully on a case-to-case basis.