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As wireless mesh networks have been deployed in the urban area, dynamic channel allocation is more challengeable because co-located wireless mediums are likely to be tuned to the same channels and may interfere with communication. Further, existing model doesn’t consider reutilizing routing resource. This paper presents an efficient scheduling and routing model considering an external interference and routing resource reutilization for multi-channel wireless mesh networks. Each mesh node uses a novel technique to estimate the usage status of all the channels within its interference range and assigns channels dynamically to radios to minimize interference within the mesh network and between the mesh network and collocated wireless networks. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can improve the network throughput, reduce packet failure rate and consume more energy while transmission substantially compared to other algorithms by removing the interference overestimation problem and assigning channels aggressively with priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important problem of modern Wi-Fis is the interferences caused by hidden stations active in the same area, or in multihop communications. All these issues significantly degrade the efficiency of the random channel access methods. Recent standardization and research activities are focused on solving coordination problems between various Wi-Fi devices. For example, the ongoing development of Wi-Fi 7 includes a coordinated schedule between the access points as a candidate solution. Consequently, Wi-Fi has many deterministic channel access mechanisms, which schedule channel time in a periodic manner well in advance and, thus, are utilized for streaming QoS sensitive data. However, both random traffic intensity and error-prone nature of the wireless channel complicate choosing such reservation parameters, i.e., the duration and the period of the reserved time intervals, that satisfy QoS requirements while minimizing channel time consumption. This paper introduces a general mathematical framework to solve the problem of choosing appropriate reservations parameters. The comparison of the analytical and simulation results show the high accuracy of the proposed framework. Finally, the paper gives an example of how to use the developed framework to maximize the network capacity.

WLAN mesh networks are one of the key technologies for upcoming smart city applications and are characterized by a flexible and low-cost deployment. The standard amendment IEEE 802.11s introduces low-level mesh interoperability at the WLAN MAC layer. However, scalability limitations imposed by management traffic overhead, routing delays, medium contention, and interference are common issues in wireless mesh networks and also apply to IEEE 802.11s networks. Possible solutions proposed in the literature recommend a divide-and-conquer scheme that partitions the network into clusters and forms smaller collision and broadcast domains by assigning orthogonal channels. We present CHaChA (Clustering Heuristic and Channel Assignment), a distributed cross-layer approach for cluster formation and channel assignment that directly integrates the default IEEE 802.11s mesh protocol information and operating modes, retaining unrestricted compliance to the WLAN standard. Our concept proposes further mechanisms for dynamic cluster adaptation, including subsequent cluster joining, isolation and fault detection, and node roaming for cluster balancing. The practical performance of CHaChA is demonstrated in a real-world 802.11s testbed. We first investigate clustering reproducibility, duration, and communication overhead in static network scenarios of different sizes. We then validate our concepts for dynamic cluster adaptation, considering topology changes that are likely to occur during long-term network operation and maintenance.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and small drones are nowadays being widely used in heterogeneous use cases: aerial photography, precise agriculture, inspections, environmental data collection, search-and-rescue operations, surveillance applications, and more. When designing UAV swarm-based applications, a key “ingredient” to make them effective is the communication system (possible involving multiple protocols) shared by flying drones and terrestrial base stations. When compared to ground communication systems for swarms of terrestrial vehicles, one of the main advantages of UAV-based communications is the presence of direct Line-of-Sight (LOS) links between flying UAVs operating at an altitude of tens of meters, often ensuring direct visibility among themselves and even with some ground Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs). Therefore, the adoption of proper networking strategies for UAV swarms allows users to exchange data at distances (significantly) longer than in ground applications. In this paper, we propose a hybrid communication architecture for UAV swarms, leveraging heterogeneous radio mesh networking based on long-range communication protocols—such as LoRa and LoRaWAN—and IEEE 802.11s protocols. We then discuss its strengths, constraints, viable implementation, and relevant reference use cases.

We consider the energy sustainable operation of solar powered IEEE 802.11s wireless mesh networks. Our main contribution is the development of a simple and novel sleep scheduling scheme that is local and distributed and provides contiguous sleep intervals that can be used for putting both radio interface cards and the main-board into deep sleep mode. We show this provides substantial energy savings as main-board power consumption comprises a significant portion of total node power. Unlike many sleep coordination schemes developed for Wireless Sensor Networks, our approach is suitable for Wireless Mesh Networks having much larger traffic demand and non-tree-like routing pattern. In addition, we propose a local duty-cycle control scheme, which regulates node awake time and naturally limits the amount of elastic traffic that moves along energy limited nodes. This is coupled with an implicit admission control scheme, which limits the number of non-elastic flows admitted to the network. More importantly, our scheme does not modify the IEEE 802.11 MAC and does not require information of the traffic demand nor input energy pattern. We have evaluated the performance of our approach using NS3 simulations by considering its traffic volume, lifetime and numerous other parameters and have also compared it to both perfect scheduling and default IEEE 802.11s behavior. Our results are also backed by evaluating numerous randomly generated topologies. A detailed discussion of the effect of topological aspects of the network on its sustainability characteristics is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IEEE 802.11s-based infrastructure Wireless Mesh Networks (iWMNs) are envisaged as a promising solution to provide ubiquitous wireless Internet access. The limited network capacity is a problem mainly caused by the medium contention between mesh users and the mesh access points (MAPs), which gets worst when the mesh clients employ the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). To mitigate this problem, we use wireless network coding (WNC) in the MAPs. The aim of this proposal is to take advantage of the network topology around the MAPs, to alleviate the contention and maximize the use of the network capacity. We evaluate WNC when is used in MAPs. We model the formation of coding opportunities and, using computer simulations, we evaluate the formation of such coding opportunities. The results show that as the users density grows, the coding opportunities increase up to 70%; however, at the same time, the coding delay increments significantly. In order to reduce such delay, we propose to adaptively adjust the time that a packet can wait to catch a coding opportunity in an MAP. We assess the performance of moving-average estimation methods to forecast this adaptive sojourn time. We show that using moving-average estimation methods can significantly decrease the coding delay since they consider the traffic density conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a framework of joint energy sustainability and QoS provisioning for energy harvesting Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) equipped with battery. We consider end-to-end delay and throughput as QoS parameters in the proposed framework. Our framework extends the concept of virtualization to energy resources of a node and dedicates a virtual battery to each connection independently. More importantly, we present a novel approach for coupling delay and throughput requirements to their equivalent virtual battery specification, providing a trade-off between QoS and energy characteristics of a connection. Furthermore, we propose admission tests based on average and instantaneous energy requirements of a connection in relation to its QoS needs. These admission tests ensure an end-to-end soft delay bound which according to our simulations, is violated by merely 2%. Using our framework we also show the strikingly different energy policies that should be adopted for routing interactive and streaming as well as bursty and constant bit-rate applications over energy harvesting WMNs. Obtaining an upper bound on the amount of energy resources required within any network clique, we show how energy constrained networks can benefit from increasing transmission power or even reduced bit-rates, despite intuition. All our claims and discussions are backed both by simulations and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimization of delay in data collection at base station is one of the major concerns in cluster based Wireless Mesh Network. There exists few other techniques for the cluster head selection in wireless mesh network such as selecting a node with maximum energy as a cluster head. In this work, We consider dynamic nodes with single hop topology with in the static cluster. To minimize the delay that occurs in transmission and reception of data, the proposed model includes four modules namely, Cluster head selection, slot allocation, slot scheduling and data collection process. In proposed model, cluster head selection is based on the maximum energy, number of links and link duration. Link duration is considered in order to avoid the link breakage that occurs before the transmission of data. Slot allocation is based on the available energy [E avail) and the required energy (E req). Slot scheduling is carried out based on the link duration. A node with minimum link duration will be given higher priority to avoid re-transmission that indirectly results in minimization of delay. Data at the base station will be collected as they are scheduled. Mathematical model of the proposed model is presented in this work and it shows that proposed model minimizes delay compared to the existing there by improving network efficiency.

IEEE 802.11s introduces MAC-layer extensions to enable vendor-independent and inter-operable WLAN mesh networks. Featuring automatic device interconnection and routing, 802.11s networks provide a higher scalability, flexibility, and robustness compared to common centralized WLAN infrastructures. As logical Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks exhibit many of the characteristics of physical WLAN mesh networks on the application layer, it is obvious to consider solutions where both technologies interact to leverage robust distributed wireless applications, such as collaborative data distribution and synchronization in future smart cities. Envisioned scenarios include the administration and update deployment to specific device groups or the distributed caching and delivery of on-demand multi-media content to selected end points within a city-area wireless mesh network. Nevertheless, common P2P protocols, such as BitTorrent (BT), do not consider the structure of the physical underlay as they were primarily designed to be used over wired communication networks, such as large parts of the Internet. Hence, the default BT peer selection mechanism does not adapt to the network topology and varying medium utilization in wireless multi-hop networks. We present MeNTor , a set of optimizations to enable underlay-aware BT peer selection in WLAN mesh networks. It relies on cross-layer integration of default 802.11s information, only requiring minor extension of the BT application layer without introducing any MAC-layer modifications or traffic overhead. Our solution was evaluated in a 25-node real-world mesh test bed, using 10 different seed/leecher placements and comparing 18 parameter combination variants of MeNTor . Results show that average download times can be reduced by 30–40%, depending on the seed/leecher placement and parameter combination variant. Finally, we recommend the variant that performed best across all scenarios as prospective default configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have acquired recently enormous attention and momentum; therefore, security aspects have been a fundamental concern for them. Among catastrophic threats on WMNs, Denial-of-Service attacks that have become a severe danger because of their plug-and-play structural design. Unfortunately, preventing a Denial-of-Service attack presents a challenging issue. This fact is induced with the appearance of the source IP addresses spoofing. The resolution key of this issue is to reveal the attack source based on the path through which the attack packet passes. For this, many researchers in IP traceability field propose various methods and techniques to deal with the issue. In this article, we conceive a novel approach named out of band IP traceback approach in WMN (IEEE 802.11s). We create a new architecture using signaling messages for discovering the real source(s) of IP packets. Our solution is based on a security-oriented signaling protocol. This protocol allows specialized signaling entities to communicate via reliable signaling information. This fact permits us to perform a simple and efficient traceback. In our novel approach, we use 2 radios: the first one transmits normal data packets whereas the second is reserved to exchange IP traceback information. The performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed via simulation analysis using the Network Simulator 3. The simulation results show that our scheme is efficient in dealing with the traceback problem in WMN environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future vehicles will be wirelessly connected to nearby vehicles, to the road infrastructure, and to the Internet, thereby becoming an integral part of the Internet of Things. New comfort features, safety functions, and a number of new vehicle-specific services will be integrated in future smart vehicles. These include a fast, secure, and reliable way to diagnose and reconfigure a vehicle, as well as the installation of new software (SW) on its integrated electronic control units (ECUs). Such wireless SW updates are beneficial for both automotive carmakers and customers, as they allow us to securely enable new features on the vehicle and to fix SW bugs by installing a new SW version over the air. A secure and dependable wireless SW update process is valuable in the entire lifetime of a modern vehicle as it can be used already during vehicle development and manufacturing process on the assembly line, as well as during vehicle maintenance in a service center. Additionally, future vehicles will allow us to remotely download up-to-date SW on the ECUs. To support this process over the entire vehicle's lifetime, a generic framework is needed. In this paper, SecUp, a generic framework enabling secure and efficient wireless automotive SW updates is proposed. SecUp utilizes IEEE 802.11s as wireless medium to interconnect vehicles and diagnostic devices in a dependable and fast way. Additionally, SecUp is enabling beneficial wireless SW update features such as parallel and partial SW updates to increase the efficiency, and comprises advanced security mechanisms to prevent abuse and attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To implement WMN, IEEE 802.11s has been developed. The routing protocol for selecting a path between two mesh stations in IEEE 802.11s is hybrid wireless mesh protocol (HWMP). But mobility of external stations has not been considered in IEEE 802.11s. For handling movement of clients, many mobility management schemes have been proposed. Some of such schemes are: ANT, Mesh Mobility Management (M $$^{3})$$ , Infrastructure Mesh (iMesh), SMesh, MEsh networks with MObility management (MEMO), Wireless mesh Mobility Management (WMM), Static Anchor Scheme, Dynamic Anchor Scheme, LMMesh, Session-to-Mobility-Ratio based Scheme and Forward Pointer-Based Mobility Management Scheme (FPBR). But none of the schemes except FPBR have been integrated with IEEE 802.11s for providing mobility support to the external stations. FPBR has been proposed to enhance IEEE 802.11s for providing mobility support to external stations, but it can support internet traffic only. In WMN both internet and intranet traffic to and from the external station is important. In this paper, an improved version of FPBR named Enhanced FPBR (EFPBR) Scheme has been introduced to handle both internet and intranet traffic. Both EFPBR and HWMP have been numerically analyzed. HWMP and EFPBR schemes are simulated and the performances are compared. From the performance comparison, it can be observed that EFPBR performs better than that of IEEE 802.11s concerning throughput, end-to-end delay, routing overhead and average handoff cost. The number of route management packets transferred per handoff measured from numerical analysis and simulation has also been compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bi-directional communication system is an indispensable component in smart grid (SG) for monitoring and exchanging essential information among the electrical devices. IEEE 802.11s based wireless mesh networks recently have been proposed as an important networking technology to deploy in SG for data collection and remote control purposes, as the cost of networking equipments decreases and performance increases. In this paper, we focus on analyzing the MAC layer performance for IEEE 802.11s wireless mesh networks in the smart grid based on Markov model, taking into account the impact of hidden nodes and different QoS requirements of smart grid applications. We first develop a new Markov chain model to analyze the back-off process for different applications with hidden nodes problem. Then based on the analytical model, we derive a few MAC layer performance metrics such as MAC layer packet dropping probability, the mean throughput and the mean packet delay which contains the queuing delay. Finally, the proposed analytical model is validated via comparing the analytical results with simulation results by ns-3 in NAN scenarios with various applications. We observe a good match between the analytical model and simulations which confirms the veracity of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a dynamic update of the HWMP (Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol) proactive tree by changing dynamically the path request (PREQ) transmission interval, instead of a periodic fixed value as defined in the IEEE 802.11s draft. Indeed, we adapt dynamically the value of the PREQ transmission interval according to the wireless environment characteristics and to the amount of traffic flows generated by applications within the considered environment. Thereby, we expect improving the routing table accuracy and minimizing the path recovery delays with less overhead for critical applications. Simulations results using Network Simulator 3 (NS-3) show that our proposed dynamic and non periodic PREQ transmission interval gives better results than a fixed periodic transmission interval value.

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have recently gained a lot of popularity due to their rapid deployment and instant communication capabilities. WMNs are dynamically self-organizing, self-configuring and self-healing with the nodes in the network automatically establishing an adiej hoc network and preserving the mesh connectivity. Designing a routing protocol for WMNs requires several aspects to consider, such as wireless networks, fixed applications, mobile applications, scalability, better performance metrics, efficient routing within infrastructure, load balancing, throughput enhancement, interference, robustness etc. To support communication, various routing protocols are designed for various networks (e.g. ad hoc, sensor, wired etc.). However, all these protocols are not suitable for WMNs, because of the architectural differences among the networks. In this paper, a detailed simulation based performance study and analysis is performed on the reactive routing protocols to verify the suitability of these protocols over such kind of networks. Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Dynamic MANET On-demand (DYMO) routing protocol are considered as the representative of reactive routing protocols. The performance differentials are investigated using varying traffic load and number of source. Based on the simulation results, how the performance of each protocol can be improved is also recommended.

Wireless mesh networks are being considered as the most adequate topology for deployment in the neighborhood area network (NAN) domain in the smart-grid infrastructure, because its features such as self-organizing, scalability, and cost-efficiency complement to the NAN requirements. To provide security functionality to the NAN, the key refreshment strategy of the simultaneous authentication of equals or the efficient mesh security association protocol is an efficient way to make the network more resilient against various cyberattacks. However, it is discovered that when the key refreshment strategy is used, the efficient mesh security association protocol demonstrates a security vulnerability, leading to denial of service attacks. In this paper, a simple hash-based encryption scheme is proposed to prevent the unprotected messages from being replayed by the adversary with an enhancement to the key refreshment scheme to improve the resilience of the mesh key holder security handshake. The Protocol Composition Logic is used to describe the logical correctness of the proposed scheme, while the Process Analysis Toolkit is used to formally verify the security functionality against the malicious attacks. The efficiency analysis and the simulation results prove that the proposed scheme is reliable and efficient. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and transforming smart grid (SG) assets in a timely manner is highly desired for emerging smart grid applications. This critically requires the design of a neighborhood area network (NAN) which is capable of providing high-efficiency and reliable two-way last mile communication from meters to other SG domains. For this demand, IEEE 802.11s based wireless mesh network (WMN) is anticipated to be utilized in a NAN as it can provide high scalability, high-speed and cost-effective wireless transmission. In this paper, we propose a NAN QoS-aware and load-balance routing scheme (NQA-LB) based on the default hybrid wireless mesh protocol (HWMP) of IEEE 802.11s, which aims to address multiple QoS requirements from different NAN applications, and guarantee the highly reliability transfer of NAN traffic data towards gateway. With the NQA-LB, various QoS requirements can be satisfied through sufficient differentiated services as well as network congestion is mitigated by achieving load balance between multiple transmission paths. In order to improve the reliability of NQA-LB, we present an EDCA based adaptive priority adjustment scheme, called AP-EDCA, which dynamically adjusts packet's priority to increase the throughput under low load condition and to mitigate the collision under heavy load condition to improve the reliability of applications with high QoS requirements. Extensive simulation experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme in terms of packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay and throughput while satisfies various QoS requirements much better at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE 802.11s wireless mesh networking standard supports power save mode where a mesh station can switch from the awake state to the doze state when there is no data to transmit. In the standard, the doze state is peer specific and has two different modes of operations—light sleep mode and deep sleep mode. This paper analytically evaluates the performance of a mesh basic service set under the operation of different power save modes, with the help of a queuing petri net modeling. The analytical model gives several insights of the power save mode operations, which are further validated using simulation results as well as results from a practical mesh networking testbed. Our analysis reveals that there exists interesting performance tradeoffs among light sleep mode and deep sleep mode, that can be explored to design an efficient power profile for mesh networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Because of the advantages of flexibility and ease of deployment, wireless mesh network (WMN) has become a promising technology for providing internet access to the users. For implementation of WMN, IEEE 802.11s standard has been developed. To route the packets from source to destination, IEEE 802.11s uses a routing algorithm named hybrid wireless mesh protocol (HWMP). But IEEE 802.11s does not support mobility of external stations. For solving this problem, many mobility management schemes such as: MEsh networks with MObility management, mesh mobility management ( M), iMesh, Smesh and WMM have been proposed. But, none of the schemes are integrated with HWMP. In this paper, an enhanced form of HWMP named forward pointer-based routing (FPBR) has been introduced. Numerical analysis of both HWMP and FPBR has been carried out. HWMP and FPBR have been simulated in NS2, and their performances have been compared. Simulation results show that by varying number of external stations, on average FPBR outperforms HWMP by 93.9, 49, 86.5 and 16.4 % in terms of normalized routing overhead, throughput, handoff cost and end-to-end delay, respectively. With variation in data transmission rate of external stations, on average FPBR outperforms HWMP by 96, 10, 87 and 12 % in terms of normalized routing overhead, throughput, handoff cost and end-to-end delay, respectively. With variation in maximum movement speed of the external stations, FPBR outperforms HWMP by 94 and 97 % in terms of handoff cost and normalized routing overhead. Finally, the number of route management packets per handoff, obtained from both numerical analysis and simulation results has been compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combined with WLAN mesh networks (WMNs) have facilitated the emergence of airborne network-assisted applications. In disaster relief, they are key solutions for 1) on-demand ubiquitous network access and 2) efficient exploration of sized areas. Nevertheless, these solutions still face major security challenges as WMNs are prone to routing attacks. Consequently, the network can be sabotaged, and the attacker might manipulate payload data or even hijack the UAVs. Contemporary security standards, such as the IEEE 802.11i and the security mechanisms of the IEEE 802.11s mesh standard, are vulnerable to routing attacks as we experimentally showed in previous works. Therefore, a secure routing protocol is indispensable for making feasible the deployment of UAV-WMN. As far as we know, none of the existing research approaches have gained acceptance in practice due to their high overhead or strong assumptions. Here, we present the position-aware, secure, and efficient mesh routing approach (PASER). Our proposal prevents more attacks than the IEEE 802.11s/i security mechanisms and the well-known, secure routing protocol ARAN, without making restrictive assumptions. In realistic UAV-WMN scenarios, PASER achieves similar performance results as the well-established, nonsecure routing protocol HWMP combined with the IEEE 802.11s security mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For minimizing contention and interference among co-channel devices, efficient channel selection is essential in 802.11 mesh deployments. The IEEE 802.11 standard provides at least three non overlapping channels. Thus, a node equipped with more than one Network Interface Card can operate on different channels simultaneously. This may increase the aggregate bandwidth available for end users and thereby support a plurality of QoS-sensitive applications. In this work, we propose a joint routing and channel assignment protocol (JRCAP) that defines a density based clustering algorithm for channel allocation (DCCA). DCCA partitions the mesh network into balanced clusters and affects a fixed and static channel to each cluster. Moreover, the JRCAP uses a routing protocol that combines routing and channel allocation for establishing routes and selecting channels for links forming the path. It also uses a new routing metric maximum residual capacity that considers channel diversity, data rate and channel load. We evaluate the performance of the JRCAP through simulation and we compare it to the distributed Hyacinth. Obtained results show that our solution achieves better performance than Hyacinth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IEEE 802.11s mesh networking standard supports Mesh Coordinated Channel Access (MCCA) to provide better quality of service (QoS) through channel reservation during the MAC layer channel access. According to the current QoS specifications, network traffic can be broadly classified into four classes—voice, video, background and best effort. However, MCCA does not directly support the standard service differentiation that is essential for service level QoS assurance. Further, assuring fairness among the flows of similar service classes is required for effective bandwidth utilization. Providing service differentiation along with the fairness is challenging in a distributed environment due to their non-linearity and non-additive properties. This paper uses the concept of $(\alpha ,p)$ -proportional fairness to design a distributed method for providing service differentiation with minimum fairness guarantee. An admission control mechanism is designed over standard mesh protocols to manage the minimum service guarantee for existing flows in the network. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is analyzed using experimental results from an IEEE 802.11n+s mesh networking testbed. The scalability and performance bound of the proposed scheme is further analyzed using simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The IEEE 802.11s standard specifies a mesh technology to be supported by IEEE 802.11 devices. Among the limitations caused by this heritage, we focus on the low scalability of the current IEEE 802.11s standard mechanisms. As a main contribution to the related research field, this article presents the DHT-based Cluster Routing Protocol (DCRP). DCRP addresses IEEE 802.11s' scalability issues by exploiting both Distributed Hash Tables and Clustering schemes, which have proved to be effective in scaling wireless (e.g., MANETs) and wired (e.g., P2P) networking systems. DCRP was implemented and compared with the HWMP through simulation for different scalability parameters and performance metrics. Simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme improves performance in terms of packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, throughput, and overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airtime is set as the default routing metric for the ongoing IEEE 802.11s wireless mesh networking standard. The metric is designed to minimize channel resource consumption by accounting for loss rate, bandwidth, and channel characteristics. However, the metric exhibits a noticeable ping-pong effect whose nature is still vague, and the very few references to this in the literature condemn it for being a perilous behavior. In this paper, we present a thorough study of the Airtime ping-pong effect, and highlight its correlation to the underlying rate control algorithms. Using different rate control algorithms (e.g., ARF, AARF, ONOE, AMRR and Constant rate), we establish that transmission rate adaptation is the principal cause behind the effect. We show that the effect is an inherent behavior, and that an accurate characterization of it can help improve network performance. We present a ping-pong-aware mechanism that, by detecting when a link undergoes such an effect, adapts the routing protocol for better network performance. The mechanism is O(1), decentralized, and can be easily integrated into the IEEE 802.11s routing protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]