Distributed Gateways in Multi-Plane Ad hoc Networks

Sutthisak Inthawadee and Dobri Atanassov Batovski

St. Gabriel Telecommunications Laboratory, Department of Telecommunications Science
Faculty of Science and Technology, Assumption University
682 Soi 24, Ram Khamhaeng Road, Hua Mak, Bang Kapi, Bangkok 10240, Thailand
E-mail: sutthisak@MerlinsSolutions.com, dobri@scitech.au.edu


Abstract

The concept of multi-plane ad hoc networks is
introduced for two emerging applications, namely,
multi-plane three-dimensional indoor topologies and
virtual multi-plane routing in dense networks. The
connectivity between different planes is established
with the use of distributed gateways consisting of a
prescribed number of interconnected nodes on each
plane. Several typical node configurations are
considered analytically as open Jacksons networks.
The load balancing in a distributed gateway consisting
of a number of connected nodes in a prescribed
topology is considered in terms of the flow
equalization of both departing and internal rates for
arbitrary arrival rates.

Keywords: multi-plane ad hoc network, distributed
gateway, open J acksons network, load balancing,
packet routing.

1. Introduction

The ad hoc networks are a subject of intensive
theoretical studies and steady development due to their
importance for the wireless community. MANET, the
Mobile Ad-hoc Network [1] is based on all-port
efficient routing among a big number of nodes. IEEE
802.11 wireless LAN/MAN [2] combine both
centralized and decentralized options for wireless
networks. Bluetooth is an industrial specification for
wireless personal area networks (PANs) [3]. Circuit-
switched ad hoc networks can be established in
narrowband systems such as TETRA [4]. The
continuous evolution of ideas and technologies in this
field makes it possible to consider some novel
approaches for specific applications such as rescue
missions and disaster management communications.

The routing performance of three-dimensional (3D)
ad hoc networks is an example of an emerging field of
research. The capacity of said 3D wireless networks
has been studied in [5]. As a private case, the multi-
plane ad hoc networks considered here are
representing a natural extension of the planar networks
for indoor rescue missions as well as sensor networks,
tactical operations, etc. Previous comprehensive
studies on the topic deal with the routing performance
and security in aerial multi-level (or multi-layer)
networks for tactical operations. [6-12] The term multi-
plane network will be used instead. The multi-plane
networks are composed of two or more planar
networks, where the adjacent networks can
communicate through a limited number of connected
nodes called distributed gateways. The distributed
gateway is a local topology of selected ad hoc nodes
that function as a decentralized relay for the nodes on
different planes. The concept of communication
between a distributed gateway and its members is
logically the same as the communication between an
access point (AP) and the nodes in infrastructure based
wireless communication. Figure 1 illustrates the
comparison between AP based wireless
communications and the concept of a distributed
gateway. It is assumed that the gateway nodes are able
to communicate without the need of intermediate
nodes for reducing the communication delays and
increasing the network security.

Figure 1. Comparison between infrastructure
based wireless network (left) and wireless ad hoc
network with distributed gateway (right).
ID: 40 IWWAN 2005
Multi-plane ad hoc networks can be categorized
into two types with respect to physical and logical
constraints. The first one is based on quasi-three-
dimensional collections of planar networks that are
located on different vertical levels as shown in Figure
2(a). The second one is based on multi-plane networks
connecting two or more different networks on the same
plane. Also, planar dense networks can be virtually
separated into several logical planes to be routed
independently, thus reducing the network complexity
and decreasing the end-to-end transmission delays as
shown in Figure 2(b).

Figure 2(a). Two-plane topology in a quasi-three-
dimensional ad hoc network.


Figure 2(b). Two-plane topology in a dense two-
dimensional ad hoc network.

The well developed planar routing protocols might
be sufficient to route packets within a single plane. The
topology control algorithms in dense networks should
be able to determine dynamically the nodes on a given
plane and bottleneck nodes of limited connectivity can
belong logically to more than one plane. The number
of gateways depends on the amount of data to be
transferred among virtually connected planes. Also, the
number of distributed gateways between planes for
indoor applications is limited by the connectivity
between different floors. Hence, the number of
gateways between planes can increase or decrease
spontaneously. The term tornado routing is
introduced here to represent the spontaneous creation
of gateways as well as their variable size.
For a chosen gateway, it is important to balance the
data flow among the nodes for arbitrary arrival rates.
From a multi-plane perspective, a single node alone is
not an efficient way of routing packets when
congestion occurs. This short study is concentrated on
the flow equalization among gateway nodes. The
MANETs all-port models are based on the assumption
that the nodes can exchange packets simultaneously
with all first neighbors. This should impose some
assumptions on the internal structure of the nodes. The
standard M/M/1 single queue-single server scheme
(implemented in centralized networks) would require
an extremely fast server being able to serve all ports,
which is rather impractical. At least one server per port
is needed and a good performance can be achieved
with several servers per port as shown in Figure 3.
Using this concept, one can assume in first
approximation a Poisson output for a point process
from a single port.
The standard M/M/m queuing model [13-15] is
used to represent the distributed gateway as an open
J acksons network. Despite a recent discussion [16]
considering the assumptions for which the J acksons
theorem is strictly valid, it can be assumed in first
approximation that the classical queueing approach can
be applied to derive the traffic equations for each
gateway node if it is known that there is no feedback
that would create routing loops among the gateway
nodes and a packet visits a node only once.
During flow equalization, a quasi-static mobile
environment is assumed for a given short time period
when the gateway topology remains the same. It is
preferable to choose gateway configurations of small
sizes that can be easily reconfigured with respect to
topology changes and routing delays. Small cyclic
topologies of one- and two-hop gateways seem to be
most appropriate for the practice as it will be
demonstrated in the remaining sections.

Figure 3. A multi-server representation of the all-
port model in MANET networks.
ID: 40 IWWAN 2005
2. Analytical model

In contrast to the intensively studied cross-traffic
flows (see [17], for example), here the consideration of
distributed gateways is simplified by the assumption
that nodes allocated for gateway purposes do not
participate actively in the routing of packets on the
plane but are reserved exclusively for relay of packets
to other planes. Let N be the number of nodes in the
gateway. The standard queueing notations will be used
for the arrival rates,
i
, and for the service rates to
another plane,
i
, where i =1,..., N. The rate matrix r
ij
,
where i, j =1,..., N, denotes the internal rates among
the gateway nodes. Several assumptions should take
place. After the flow equalization is established, it is
assumed that directed flows take place only, i.e., if the
rate r
ij
0, then r
ji
=0. The sum of arrival flows should
be less than or equal the sum of service rates at the
output of the network to the other plane,

= =

N
i
i
N
i
i
1 1
. (1)
The service rate entropy,

=
N
i
i i
N N
H
1
2
log ) (

, (2)
of the normalized output service rates, where

=
=
N
i
i
N
1
1
, (3)
should reach a maximum, which in the best case is
accomplished when

1
=
2
= =
N
. (4)
Even though the node itself is capable of providing
higher service rates, due to physical link constraints it
is assumed that some links might have lower capacities
than other links, which does not allow the use of equal
departure rates, i.e., in general,
i

j
, i =1,..., N.
When dealing with the internal gateway links, it is
assumed that the nodes are located in a close proximity
to each other and the non-zero internal rates r
ji
can be
equal (in the best case) for a given set of arrival and
departure rates.
The traffic equations can be written in a compact
form,

=
=
N
j
ij i i
r
1
, i =1,..., N. (5)
There are N equations for an arbitrary number M of
non-zero rates r
ji
, where for the majority of cases the
inequality M N holds for N >2. The number of
linearly-independent equations for closed-loop (cyclic)
gateways is N-1. This results in a system of N-1 linear
equations with MN+1 undetermined variables, ,
and N-1 internal rates can be represented as linear
functions of the said variables, . The
additional requirement for flow equalization can be
used to obtain a solution. Two approaches for solving
this problem statement are considered below.
u
kl
r
) (
u
kl ij ij
r r r =

2.1 Maximum entropy approach

The maximum entropy approach deals with the
maximization of the internal rate entropy
( )

=

=

=
N
i
N
r
j
n
ij
n
ij
ij
r r r H
1
0
1
2 max
log max ) ( (6)
of the normalized non-zero internal rates, ,
n
ij
r

=
=
N
i
N
r
j
u
kl ij
u
kl ij
n
ij
ij
r r
r r
r
1
0
1
) (
) (
, (7)
This follows to (MN+1)-variable optimization
problem for the non-zero internal rates. The said rates
are being constrained within the critical rates of the
directed edges. Absolute rate values are used in the
above equations. The signs (directions) of the non-zero
directed flows are not known in advance and are to be
determined.

2.2 Minimum variance approach

The minimum variance approach deals with the
minimization of the variance determined by the
quadratic functional

=

=

=
N
i
N
r
j
u
kl ij
u
kl
ij
r r r
M
r
1
0
1
2
min
] ) ( [
1
min ) ( var , (8)
where

=
=
N
i
N
r
j
u
kl ij
ij
r r
M
r
1
0
1
) (
1
. (9)
One can set to zero the partial derivatives
0
2
1
0
1
min
) ) ( (
) ( var
=

=
u
kl
ij
N
i
N
r
j
u
kl ij
u
kl
u
kl
r
r
r r r
r
r
ij
M
,
(10)
ID: 40 IWWAN 2005
and obtain MN+1 additional linear equations. Due to
the linear relationship among the internal rates as
represented by Equation 5, it follows that
1 =

u
kl
ij
r
r
, (11)
which simplifies the rate analysis.
Note that the calculation of the first derivatives of
the entropy would produce a system of non-linear
equations. Due to this drawback, it is preferable to use
the minimum variance approach which allows one to
obtain a simple solution with minimum computational
efforts.

3. Analytical solutions for some basic
distributed gateway topologies

The simplest distributed gateway consisting of two
nodes, N=2, M=1, assuming that
1

2
,
1
+
2
=
1
+
2
,
and r
21
=0, has the following two traffic equations
r
12
=
1

1
, and r
12
=
2
+
2
. (12)
The undetermined rate r
12
is given simply by
r
12
=[(
1

1
) (
2

2
)]/2. (13)
The direction of the flow r
12
is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Two-node topology.

Three nodes connected in a cyclic manner and
forming a triangle represent the simplest and most
efficient way to establish a two-hop distributed
gateway topology, where N =3, M =3. Assuming that

1

2

3
and
1
+
2
+
3
=
1
+
2
+
3
, r
21
=0, r
31

=0, and r
23
=0, the traffic equations can be written as
follows:
r
12
+r
13
=
1

1
, r
12
+r
23
=
2

2
, and
r
13
r
23
=
3

3
, (14)
Since one of the equations is a linear combination
of the other equations, the rates r
13
and r
23
as well as
r depend on the undetermined rate
u
r
12
r
13
( ) =
u
r
12
1

1
, r
u
r
12
23
( ) =
u
r
12
2

2
+
and
u
r
12
r =(
1

1
+
2

2
+ )/3.
(15)
u
r
12
The first derivatives are obviously
u
dr
dr
12
13
=1,
u
dr
dr
12
23
=1, and
u
dr
r d
12
=1/3. (16)
One can set the first derivative of the quadratic
functional to zero
) ( ) (
) var(
12 1 1 12
12
3
4
3
2
[
2
r r r r
dr
r d
u u
u
ij
M
=
0 )] ( (
12 2 2
) 3 / 2 = + + r r
u
, (17)
and obtain the final result,
=[0.5(
u
r
12
1

1
) 0.25(
2

2
)]. (18)
For example, one can choose the following arrival
rate proportion,
1
:
2
:
3
=3:2:1, and the maximum rates
can be normalized to unity,
1
=
2
=
3
=1, then
1
=
3/2,
2
=1, and
3
=1/2. The directions of the flows
are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Triangular topology.

The dependence of the entropy vs. r
12
is shown in
Figure 6. Instead of the variance (Equation 8), it is
preferable to display the standard deviation (S.D.), also
shown in Figure 6. The lines in the said figure
represent the rates r
13
and r
23
as a function of r
12
. The
minimum of the quadratic functional is observed for
=0.25 in accordance with Equation 18. Obtaining
also r
u
r
12
13
=0.25 and r
23
=0.25, one can observe an ideal
equalization of internal flows. The maximum of the
entropy is observed at the same point. The entropy has
local minima at the points where some of the rates r
ij

become equal to zero as illustrated in Figure 6 for rate
r
13
=0. The entropy function has multiple minima and
maxima with the increase of the number of nodes.
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

S.D. Entropy
Figure 6. Entropy and S.D. [a.u.] vs. r
12
of a
triangular topology.
r
13
r
23
r
12
ID: 40 IWWAN 2005
The next example deals with four nodes connected
in a cyclic manner and forming a rectangle for
establishing a three-hop distributed gateway topology,
where N =4, M =4. Assuming that
1

2

3

4

and
1
+
2
+
3
+
4
=
1
+
2
+
3
+
4
, the traffic
equations can be written as follows:
r
12
+r
13
=
1

1
,
r
12
+r
24
=
2

2
,
r
13
+r
34
=
3

3
, and
r
24
r
34
=
4

4
. (19)
Since one of the equations is a linear combination
of the other equations, the rates r
13
, r
24
, and r
34
depend
on the undetermined rate
u
r
12
r
13
( ) =
u
r
12
1

1
, r
u
r
12
24
( ) =
u
r
12
2

2
+ ,
u
r
12
r
34
( ) =(
u
r
12
1

1
) +(
3

3
) , and
u
r
12
r =[2(
1

1
) +
2

2
+
3

3
)]/4, (20)
where r
21
=0, r
31
=0, r
42
=0, and r
43
=0. The first
derivatives are obviously
u
dr
dr
12
13
=1,
u
dr
dr
12
24
=1,
u
dr
dr
12
34
=1 and
u
dr
r d
12
=0. (21)
One can set the first derivative of the quadratic
functional to zero
0 ]} ) ( ) [(
) (
) ( {
) var(
12 3 3 1 1
12 2 2
12 1 1 12
12
2
= +
+ +
=
u
u
u u
u
ij
r
r
r r
dr
r d
M



(22)
and obtain the final result,
=[2(
u
r
12
1

1
) (
2

2
+
3

3
)]/4. (23)
As an example, one can choose the following arrival
rate proportion,
1
:
2
:
3
:
4
=4:3:2:1, and the maximum
rates can be normalized to unity, i.e.,
1
=
2
=
3
=
4

=1, then
1
=8/5,
2
=6/5,
3
=4/5 and
4
=2/5. The
directions of the flows are shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Rectangular topology.

The dependence of the entropy vs. r
12
is shown in
Figure 8. The standard deviation (S.D.) is also shown
in the same figure. The lines in the said figure
represent the rates r
13
and r
24
, and r
34
as a function of
r
12
. The minimum of the quadratic functional is
observed for =0.2 in accordance with Equation
23. The maximum of the entropy is observed at the
same point as expected. The entropy has two local
minima, for r
u
r
12
13
=0 and r
34
=0. There is no ideal rate
equalization in this case since r
12
=r
34
=0.2 and r
13
=
r
24
=0.4.
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Figure 8. Entropy and S.D. [a.u.] vs. r
12
of a
rectangular topology.

An efficient multi-cyclic topology for internal
gateway routing in a three-dimensional network is the
pyramid consisting of four nodes, N=4, M=6, as shown
schematically in Figure 9. The number of
undetermined coefficients equals 3. The analysis of
this topology can be carried out using the minimum
variance approach as described above, thus obtaining
for
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
and chosen edge directions:
r
12
=[8(
1
-
1
) - 3(
2
-
2
) +(
3
-
3
)]/20, (24)
r
13
=[5(
1
-
1
) - 5(
3
-
3
)]/20, (25)
r
14
=[7(
1
-
1
) +3(
2
-
2
) +4(
3
-
3
)]/20, (26)
r
23
=[3(
1
-
1
) +7(
2
-
2
) - 4(
3
-
3
)]/20, (27)
r
24
=[(
1
-
1
) +2(
2
-
2
) +(
3
-
3
)]/20, (28)
r
34
=[8(
1
-
1
) +7(
2
-
2
) +11(
3
-
3
)]/20. (29)
For the arrival rate proportion
1
:
2
:
3
:
4
=4:3:2:1 and

1
=
2
=
3
=
4
=1 one can obtain the optimized
internal rates, r
12
=r
13
=r
14
=r
23
=r
24
=r
34
=0.2.

Figure 9. Pyramidal topology.
Entropy S.D.
r
24
r
13
r
34
r
12
ID: 40 IWWAN 2005
4. Conclusion

The concept of interconnection between multi-plane
ad hoc networks in terms of closed-loop (cyclic)
distributed gateways established on ad hoc basis is
introduced. It is shown that the proper load balancing
among the adjacent nodes allows one to use directed
edges only. It is desirable to reduce the number of
nodes in the gateway in order to decrease the delays
imposed by the internal flow equalization and mobility
changes. Less effective open-loop gateways can also
be used. Typical configurations ranging from two
nodes up to four nodes might be sufficient for efficient
communication between the planes. In reality, the
number of nodes in a gateway as well as the number of
gateways is physically limited by the number of
available first neighbors and the arbitrary network
topology.

Acknowledgements
The Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, Assumption
University, and the CEO, Merlins Solutions
International Co., Ltd., are gratefully appreciated.

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ID: 40 IWWAN 2005