Measuring the link qualities in a frequency-hop packet radio network for use in the routing of multimedia packets

Abstract

A new method is described for routing multimedia traffic in a frequency-hop (FH) store-and-forward packet radio network. The new routing protocol is an extension of least-resistance routing (LRR), which bases route selection on the resistances for the routes from the source to the destination. The link resistance for LRR is a measure of the interference environment and other conditions that affect the probability that a FH radio can receive and forward a packet. For multimedia least-resistance routing (MMLRR), the link resistance for a given type of packet also accounts for the service requirements of that packet. MMLRR is illustrated for two types of traffic, each type having its own constraints on the number of errors and the delay. A typical application is the routing of voice and data packets in a multiple-hop network. In such an application, the voice packets cannot tolerate much delay, but they are allowed to contain a small number of errors. The data packets must be delivered error-free, even if a moderate delay is required to do so. The performance of MMLRR is measured by the throughput, end-to-end success probability, and delay which are obtained by computer simulation of a multiple-hop network of FH radios.