On the fairness of resource allocation in wireless mesh networks: a survey

This article presents a comprehensive survey of resource allocation techniques in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). Wireless mesh networks have emerged as a key technology for next generation application specific multi-hop wireless networks. We analyze the state-of-the-art resource allocation schemes for WMNs, providing comprehensive taxonomy of the latest work and the future research trends in this field. In general, the resources that are available for WMNs include time, frequency, space, relays, and power. An efficient utilization of these resources can make the network more robust, reliable, and fair. We categorize the resource allocation into “radio” resource allocation, “physical” resource allocation, “utility” based resource optimization, and “cross layer” resource optimization. An ample review of resource allocation schemes within these categories is provided.