Fitness evaluation for channel assignment algorithms in IEEE 802.11 WMNs

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) cannot utilize the full capability of these radio technologies without an effective channel assignment algorithm. Existing metrics for characterising the efficacy of channel assignment algorithms poorly reflect the goodput distribution in WMNs. In this paper, we develop a fitness evaluation algorithm that feeds back several indicators of efficacy to a channel assignment algorithm and evaluate the resulting goodput distribution. To the best of our knowledge, our algorithm is the first to evaluate the fitness of channel assignment algorithms with goodput distribution, average goodput, and fairness index. Simulation results show that our evaluation algorithm provides accurate prediction of goodput distribution, average goodput, and fairness index with errors below 8%.