| In recent years, IEEE 802.11 based wireless local area network (WLANs) have been widely deployed and the cost of IEEE 802.11-enabled routers and adapters are very low. To effectively establish wireless networks in various scenarios, it is important to exploit such inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. In this thesis, we address this issue and propose a novel medium access control (MAC) scheme based on the idea of network coding and intelligent channel selection. Specifically, we designed a new sub-layer between the network layer and the legacy IEEE 802.11 MAC layer. In this manner, the cost for updating the system can be minimized, while the performance can be improved efficiently. We also address the scalability of the network using a new architecture scheme known as the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). By implementing a Service Oriented Routing Algorithm (SORA), a network layer protocol that chooses the best route based on the service that is being requested rather than the traditional source and destination approach, one can add this architecture to any existing network. Through the implementation of some testbeds we show how this new scheme improves the performance of the Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). |
