Independent links: A new approach to increase spatial reuse in wireless networks

This paper explores a new method of improving the performance of CSMA-based wireless networks. The main proposal is to achieve a higher degree of spatial reuse by increasing the number of independent links. A pair of links is independent if the mutual interference generated by simultaneous transmissions on these links can be tolerated by all devices involved. In this paper, we derive the conditions for independence of links, and show that maximizing their number in a network is a complex problem. These insights were used to develop an efficient and decentralized heuristic, whose performance is evaluated by simulation. This mechanism outperforms recent literature proposals on a large number of random topologies.