Patent ID: 7920991

Claim:
A server-implemented method of characterizing a capacity region in a multi-channel, multi-radio mesh network of nodes interconnected by links, the method comprising: (a) the server modeling the network; (b) the server obtaining a feasible upper-capacity bound by solving an optimization problem; and (c) the server using an algorithm that provides a feasible lower-capacity bound based on the solution to the optimization problem, wherein the algorithm comprises (i) receiving the solution to the optimization problem as input, (ii) allocating channels to links to meet a demand vector that satisfies a plurality of link-flow feasibility constraints, and (iii) scheduling flows along the allocated channels; wherein: the upper- and lower-capacity bounds define the capacity region; each of a plurality of nodes in the network has a number of channels and a number of radios; and in at least one of the plurality of nodes, the number of channels is different from the number of radios.