Clustering and resource allocation in ad hoc networks

摘要

Methods of scheduling network node transmission in a wireless communication network, computer program products, a network node gateway and a network node are disclosed. One method comprises causing allocation of each network node of the wireless communication network to at least one of a plurality of clusters of network nodes, each cluster of network nodes comprising only those network nodes which detect transmissions from every network node within that cluster; and scheduling transmissions by network nodes within each of the plurality of clusters to be performed using resources of a transmission separation scheme allocated to be shared by network nodes within that cluster of network nodes. Through this approach, inter-cluster transmissions avoid collision or interference since they are scheduled to be transmitted using different resources. Also, because each network node in the cluster is able to detect or sense transmissions by other network nodes within the cluster, no collisions or interference should occur as a result of intra-cluster transmissions (i.e. transmissions within each cluster). This helps to improve the performance of the wireless communication network, particularly those which operate the contention-based channel access technology Carrier Sensing Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) to deliver their traffic to a destination node.