Topology Management for Directional Antenna-based Networks

The topology of an ad hoc network plays a key role in the performance of many control algorithms used in the network for purposes such as scheduling of transmissions, routing, and broadcasting. The goal of topology management is to maintain network configuration in terms of wireless links to optimize bandwidth allocation. This Phase I SBIR proposal will pursue both `power control' and `hierarchical topology organization' approaches to to research and develop readily deployable topology management algorithms which address the complexity of mobile ad hoc mesh communication networks constructed of directional antennas, and demonstrate, via extensive QualNet simulation, their ability to optimize total network carrying capacity in a tactical ad hoc environment with unbalanced traffic.