Implementation of a new Algorithm for MPR selection in an OLSR protocol
based Wireless Mesh Network
Prashanth Gopinath, Srikanth Subramanian and Janani Swaminathan
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Florida
Abstract
In this project we aim to implement a new algorithm for
the selection of Multi Point Relays (MPRs) in the OLSR
protocol. This would involve detailed background study
about wireless mesh networks and the OLSR protocol.
Further we will describe the proposed algorithm to
update the MPR tables maintained by the OLSR
protocol and the procedure for implementing this on a
router. We also aim to provide a comparison between
the performance of two networks, one running on
conventional OLSR and the other with the modified
OLSR.
1. Introduction
OLSR protocol (Optimized Link State Routing Protocol) is
a classic table driven, proactive protocol that works
efficiently. The routing strategy of OLSR protocol is
similar to traditional routing protocols. Each node
broadcasts control packets periodically, exchanges nodes‟
information and discovers routes proactively and
independently. Compared with the classical flooding
mechanism, OLSR protocol reduces routing overhead with
the help of its key concept – MPR (Multi Point Relay).
Each node in the network selects part of its symmetric
neighbors as MPR with MPR selection algorithm. Only
MPRs are allowed to diffuse topology information. An
optimization is achieved by minimizing the number of
control messages flooded in the network. MPR also reduces
the size of the topology control message by reporting links
between itself and its MPR selectors instead of links to all
symmetric neighbors.
OLSR operates in three main steps:
 Neighbor sensing. This is achieved by exchanging
HELLO messages between all one-hop neighbors in a
network. Through periodic HELLO messages received
from its one-hop neighbors, a node is able to select its
MPRs. Then a link state database and a neighborhood
database are established by each node based on
neighbor sensing.
 TC messages dissemination. Each node, through its
MPRs, periodically advertises its link information to
all other nodes inside the network. As a consequence,
all nodes inside a network have necessary topology
information for all links between any two nodes inside
the same network.
 Routing table calculation. Based on TC messages
received from other nodes, a node is able to compute
its shortest-path routes to all reachable nodes in the
network, by using an algorithm similar to the
Dijkstra‟s algorithm. The shortest-path in terms of the
number of hops is used for route calculation in OLSR.
Furthermore, two other messages are defined in OLSR, i.e.
Multiple Interface Declaration (MID), and Host and
Network Association (HNA). MID messages are used when
a node is equipped with multiple interfaces, i.e. multiple
wired or wireless cards. However, only one interface is
selected as the ID (main address) of the node. HNA
messages are used when a node functions as a gateway
node, and it is especially useful when an ad hoc network is
connected to the Internet. Gateway here means the nodes
which provide connectivity between an ad-hoc and external
networks, e.g. the Internet.
OLSR maintains the following set of tables:
Tables Details
Neighbor table State of neighbors
2 Hop Neighbor table State of 2 hop neighbors
MPR table Information about MPR of
own node
MPR selector table Neighboring nodes which
select this node as their
MPR
Topology table Information acquired from
TC messages received
Routing table Routing information
Duplicate table Information about most
recently received messages
2. Proposed Modification
The existing MPR tables can be optimized by using this
algorithm that generates a reduced set of MPRs which
result in reduced overhead in the network when link state
information is transmitted to all the nodes in the network.
The existing method of selecting MPRs is based on Greedy
Algorithm. Its step could be stated as follows.
 Step 1: Select all one hop neighbors that could provide
the only reach ability to some two hop neighbors as
MPRs.
 Step 2: If there are still some two hop neighbors that
are not covered by MPR, select that one hop neighbor
which covers the most uncovered two hop neighbors
as MPR. Now repeat this step until all two hop
neighbors are covered by MPRs.
Fig.1 below is an example of selecting MPRs using the
above heuristic. As shown in the figure the one hop
neighbor set of A includes the nods {B C D E F} while
MPR set of A is {B C D}.
It is obvious that {B C D} is not the MPR set of minimal
size. It is easily seen that we require only the two nodes {C
D} to cover all two hop neighbors. The Greedy algorithm
cannot select the optimal MPR set {C D} as the algorithm
uses cover ability as the heuristic. However there occurs an
overlap as the nodes covered by B are also covered by C.
This limitation of the Greedy algorithm not being able to
always arrive at the optimal solution is addressed by the
Necessity First Algorithm(NFA).
The NFA decreases the number of MPRs significantly. Its
description is as follows.
The NFA chooses from a different angle trying to
overcome the problem of Greedy Algorithm. NFA is based
on “necessity of selecting” unlike GA which is based on
cover ability. According to this basis,
 Step 1: Calculate N(x), N2(x), D(x,y) for all
nodes in N(x).
 Step 2: If there are any nodes in the set of one
hop neighbors who are the only nodes providing
reach-ability to some nodes in the set of second
hop neighbors, select these nodes as MPRs. Then
delete all two hop neighbors that are covered by
these nodes from N2(x). Now if there is no node
in N2(x) then stop else go to step 3
 Step 3: Recalculate D(x,y) for all nodes in N(x)
and choose the nodes with the minimal degree. If
there is only one node with minimal degree delete
it from N(x) and recalculate D(x,y) for all nodes
in N2(x) and go to step 2, else using rule I break
the tie and delete the selected node from N(x).
Now again recalculate D(x,y) for all nodes in
N2(x) and go to step 2.
Where N(x) is the set of first hop neighbors for node x,
N2(x) is the set of second hop neighbors for node x
excluding any node already in N(x). D(x,y) is the degree of
node x‟s one hop neighbor y. This is the number of nodes
in N2(x) that are covered by y. All these sets can change
during the course of selection of MPRs.
Rule I:
If D(x,y1) = D(x,y2) then for yi(i ɛ {1,2})
 Step 1: Find all nodes in N2(x) that are covered
by yi.
 Step 2: Find all nodes in N(x) that could cover
any of the two hop neighbors found in step 1.
 Step 3: Calculate the number of two hop
neighbors in N2(x) covered by the one hop
neighbors found in step 2.
 Step 4: Select that node which has a bigger
number as a result in step 3.
3. Related Work
OpenWRT: Setting up a build environment
OpenWRT is a Linux based firmware program which is
used to customize embedded devices and residential
gateways. OpenWRT is the platform being used on the
netgear WGT634u routers. The website www.qcsmesh.com
provides step by step instructions of how to create a „build
environment‟ that provides a platform for one to add
additional packages to the already existing basic packages
that OpenWRT provides. This freedom of customization
allows one to use a device in ways never envisioned. The
QCS Mesh routers in essence have their wireless 802.11
protocols used in the netgear routers replaced with OLSR
protocol. This enables them to be a part of an ad-hoc mesh
network where one of the routers acts as a gateway. This
makes it possible to extend a physically constrained
network connection, eg. an internet gateway, over to a
larger area thus providing extensive connectivity.
To compile customized OpenWRT firmware, a build
environment has to be setup. This process involves
installing the OpenWRT toolchain, necessary to build a
OpenWRT image and packages that can be later installed
on the netgear device, on a host unix system. Upon
completion of the installation, the particular build of
OpenWRT can be configured by using the configure menu.
Later additional packages can be added depending on
customization desired. In this particular case, the olsrd
package is installed and the image file is compiled by using
the „make‟ command. This file can be then flashed on to
the device using either of the steps mentioned below.
Configuring a router to be a part of a mesh network
This process involves setting up a connection between the
router and the computer with OpenWRT. This is achieved
using a serial console built using a RS232 complaint cable
a MAX3232 IC for level conversion of voltage between the
two. The whole console is comprised of a MAX3232
converter pcb with a serial input and serial output
connection. This is connected to the pc using a usb to rs232
serial cable adapter. The other end of the max3232 ic is
connected to the serial port of the netgear wgt634u router.
This method is one of the two methods available for
flashing images onto the device. The schematic for the
max3232 pcb package is as shown in fig.2.
The other method that is easier, faster and generally used
more often is the direct update of the firmware by writing it
on the device by connecting to it through a standard
Ethernet cable. This does not require a serial to a usb
converter (in case the computer has a serial port, we would
still need level conversion). But this method can be used
only in the case of flashing precompiled packages available
on the OpenWRT website.
The OLSR protocol: An Overview of the code
The Olsrd package provided by www.olsr.org contains the
C code of the OLSR algorithm that needs to be modified.
The OLSR daemon provided by olsr.org is an
implementation of the Optimized Link State Routing
protocol. It provides for routing of mobile ad-hoc networks
and is driven by a technique called multipoint relaying.
Olsrd is a well structured and well coded implementation
that is easy to maintain, expand and port to other platforms.
The implementation is RFC3626 compliant with respect to
both core and auxiliary functioning. Olsrd supports use of
loadable plug-ins. These can be used to handle and generate
custom packet types that can be carried by olsr‟s MPR
flooding scheme or any other desired functioning. Olsrd is
an ongoing open source project. Olsrd is on layer 3 and is
highly portable. It can run on a variety of platforms which
include Windows, Linux, OS X, VxWorks, NetBSD,
FreeBSD, OpenBSD etc.
The entire Olsrd package consists of approximately over
ninety source and header files. The selection of MPRs is
governed by a set of around 20 source and header files that
contain the definition of all different functions, procedures
and class definitions that are used to store topology
information in the form of a number of tables as mentioned
in previous sections. The olsr.c file contains function
definitions which process changes when there are any
updates in the neighborhood and/or topology. It re-
calculates the topology and calls the corresponding
functions to update the routing tables. Routing table entries
consist of calculating initial values of the tables, initial
selection of the MPR set and other calculations.
olsr_protocol.h contains values and packet formats as
proposed in RFC3626 and miscellaneous values and data
structures used by the olsr.org olsr daemon. The central
focus of this particular modification would revolve around
the following few files.
olsr_spf.c: This part of the code calculates and assigns a
„cost function‟ for each node in the topology. Initially all
nodes are initialized to infinite cost. First the heap of
reachable nodes is collected. The heap implementation is
based on an AVL tree which provides interesting
performance characteristics for the frequent operations of
minimum key extraction and re-keying. Next all neighbors
are explored and put on the heap if the cost of reaching
them is better than the current candidate node. The SPF
(Shortest Path First) calculation is terminated if there are no
more nodes on the heap.
mpr.c : This file consists of code which is used to select 2
hop neighbors based on the cost and willingness of the
node. The willingness of a node is determined based on the
power status of the node. This calculation is based on the
greedy algorithm. The 2 hop neighbor table is used for the
mpr table updation. This is generated by the code in
2_hop_neighbor_table.c.
olsr_cfg.h : This file defines default values for the
parameters used in the olsr_cfg.c file which haven‟t been
initialized to any particular value.
The above files are the ones we aim to modify in order to
produce a difference in the mpr selection table entries.
Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile
Computing 2008, WiCom ‟08, Oct 2008.
[3] Dang Nguyen and Pascale Minet, “Analysis of MPR
selection in the OLSR protocol”, 21st International
Conference on Advanced Information Networking and
Application Workshops (AINAW‟07), 2007.
[4] Frank Y. Li, Lorenzo Vandoni, Giampietro Zicca, and
Stefano Zanoli, “OLSR Mesh Network for Broadband
Access: Enhancements, Implementation and Deployment”,
4th IEEE International Conference on Circuits and Systems
for Communication, 2008. ICCSC 2008. May 2008.
[5] Mounir Frikha, and Manel Maamer, “Implementation
and Simulation of OLSR protocol with QoS in Ad Hoc
Networks”, Higher School of Communication of Tunis,
Network Department.
[6] http://openwrt.org/
[7] http://www.olsr.org/
[8] www.members.shaw.ca/swstuff/wgt634u.html

4. Anticipated Results [9] http://qcsmesh.com/twiki/bin/view/QCSMesh/WebHome

The OLSR protocol based on the new algorithm selects a

fewer number of MPRs while maintaining the connectivity
of every node to every one of its 2 Hop neighbors as per
protocol requirements. This is expected to be less than the
number of MPRs selected by the OLSR protocol employing
the greedy algorithm introduced in RFC 3626.

5. Conclusion and Future Work

Further work will include modifying the C code as

previously mentioned in the earlier sections to obtain
increased performance through decreased number of
MPRs. A comparison of the performance of the old and
modified OLSR also seems in order. Finally a wireless
mesh network consisting of nodes following the modified
OLSR protocol on netgear WGT634U routers will be
implemented.

6. References

[1] Yan Wen, Guo Wein and Liu Jun, “An Implementation
and Study of OLSR protocol in Linux OS”, 4th
International Conference on Wireless Communications,
Networking and Mobile Computing 2008, WiCom ‟08, Oct
2008.

[2] Zheng Li, Nenghai Yu, Zili Deng, “NFA: An Algorithm

to select MPRs in OLSR”, 4th International Conference on