(IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2019 99 | Page www.ijacsa.thesai.org Minimizing Information Asymmetry Interference using Optimal Channel Assignment Strategy in Wireless Mesh Networks Gohar Rahman 1 , Chuah Chai Wen 2 Faculty of computer science & information Technology Universiti of Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400, Johor Malaysia Sadiq Shah 3 Department of Computer Science FATA University, FR Kohat, Pakistan Misbah Daud 4 Institute of Business and Management Sciences The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan Abstract—Multi-radio multi-channel wireless mesh networks (MRMC-WMNs) in recent years are considered as the prioritized choice for users due to its low cost and reliability. MRMC- WMNs is recently been deployed widely across the world but still these kinds of networks face interference problems among WMN links. One of the well-known interference issue is information asymmetry (IA). In case of information asymmetry interference the source mesh nodes of different mesh links cannot sense each other before transmitting data on the same frequency channel. This non-coordination leads to data collision and packet loss of data flow and hence degrades the network capacity. To maximize the MRMC-WMN capacity and minimize IA interference, various schemes for optimal channel assignment have been proposed already. In this research a novel and near-optimal channel assignment model called Information Asymmetry Minimization (IAM) model is proposed based on integer linear programming. The proposed IAM model optimally assigns orthogonal or non-overlapping channels from IEEE 802.11b technology to various MRMC-WMN links. Through extensive simulations we show that our proposed model gives 28.31% network aggregate network capacity improvement over the existing channel assignment model. Keywords—Wireless mesh network; information asymmetry interference; channel assignment; integer linear programming; coordinated interference I. INTRODUCTION In recent years wireless mesh network (WMN) has become a better option for users as it is reliable, self-configurable and low cost technology. In wireless mesh network (WMN) three types of nodes are involved used for communication i.e. mesh routers, mesh clients and gateway nodes [1]. Mesh routers forms a mesh topology and are connected with each other. These routers forwards packets on behalf of the other nodes called mesh clients as mesh clients may not be within each other’s direct wireless transmission range. Wireless mesh network are almost static or minimal mobile that makes a backbone network called mesh backbone. PDAs, desktop systems, laptops, smart phones etc. are traditional mesh client nodes. All these clients access mesh routers to communicate and with each other and with outside world using gateways nodes [2, 3]. Each node in the WMN gives the end users a reliable environment due to its multiple path and redundant links. In case of failure on single route the flow of data is sent on the alternate redundant path. That is the reason why WMNs are reliable and self-configurable. Wireless mesh network has static mesh routers or have minimum mobility. The complete architecture of MRMC-WMN is shown in Fig. 1. Wireless mesh network can have single or multiple radios. In our research we have taken multi-radios architecture where the mesh nodes are equipped with multiple radios. These multiple radios perform significant role in maximizing the aggregate network capacity. Recently researches have adopted the use of multiple interfaces concept. Further multiple channels at MAC layer can be assigned at the same time to a wireless mesh node to take advantage by using multiple channels. Compared to single radio architecture multiple radios enhance the overall network capacity. A. Multi Radio WMNs In a single-radio WMN each mesh node operates on only one frequency channel at single time slot. Generally single radio in wireless mesh network are considered the weakest approach to form a mesh network. To overcome the single radio issue another alternative approach has been developed that is called multi-radio wireless mesh network. In case of MRMC-WMN each mesh router is equipped with multiple interfaces or radios. Due to the presence of multiple interfaces on each mesh router multiple channels form IEEE 802.11b can be assigned to mesh node. This strategy improves the network throughput up to a great extent [4]. In case of single-radio- single channel (SRSC) design each mesh node has only one radio and that radio can use only one frequency channel. The main drawback of SRSC structural design is less throughput and limited capacity due to limited number of channels [5]. Keeping in view the disadvantages of single-radio design the alternative design is multi-radio-multi-channel (MRMC) structure. Further multiple channels can be assigned to each node. The multi-radio multi-channel leads to simultaneous