Optimizing the topology of Bluetooth Wireless Personal Area Networks

In this paper, we address the problem of determining an optimal topology for Bluetooth Wireless Personal Area Networks (BT-WPANs). In BT-WPANs, multiple communication channels are available, thanks to the use of a frequency hopping technique. The way network nodes are grouped to share the same channel, and which nodes are selected to bridge traffic from a channel to another, has a significant impact on the capacity and the throughput of the system, as well as the nodes’ battery lifetime. The determination of an optimal topology is thus extremely important; nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, this problem is tackled here for the first time. Our optimization approach is based on a model derived from constraints that are specific to the BT-WPAN technology, but the level of abstraction of the model is such that it can be related to the more general field of ad hoc networking. By using a min-max formulation, we find the optimal topology that provides full network connectivity, fulfills the traffic requirements and the constraints posed by the system specification, and minimizes the traffic load of the most congested node in the network, or equivalently its energy consumption. Results show that a topology optimized for some traffic requirements is also remarkably robust to changes in the traffic pattern. Due to the problem complexity, the optimal solution is attained in a centralized manner. Although this implies severe limitations, a centralized solution can be applied whenever a network coordinator is elected, and provides a useful term of comparison for any distributed heuristics.