It is understood from past decade of research that a wireless multi-hop network can achieve maximum network throughput only when its nodes operate at a minimum common transmission power level that ensures network connectivity (availability). This point of optimality where maximum availability and throughput is guaranteed in an interference-optimal network has been the basis of numerous design problems in wireless networks. In this paper, we claim that when performability (availability weighted performance) is considered as opposed to average case throughput performance, there does not exist a transmission power (or node density) that can maximize both availability and performability. Since the current mesh networks are expected to deliver carrier-grade services to its users, the availability-performability tradeoff presented in this paper holds a special importance. While availability metric is a necessary one for any networking system intended to provide continuous service, past research has shown a strong correlation between performability and quality of user experience in case of wireless networks.

The contributions of the paper are as follows: (1) We first define availability and performability in the context of wireless mesh networks, and then develop efficient algorithms on the basis of intelligent state sampling that can calculate both the quantities with reasonable accuracy. (2) We apply the evaluation methods to two existing mesh networks (GoogleWiFi and PoncaCityMesh) to demonstrate that their current design can not guarantee a reasonable level of availability or performability. (3) Using hundreds of hours of simulations, we analyze the impact of two basic deployment factors (node density and transmission power) on availability and performability. We outline numerous novel results that emerge due to joint availability-performability analysis including the observation about availability-performability tradeoff.

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