Method for facilitating sharing of channel information in a wireless communication network

A method of operation of a node for obtaining channel information in a multi-hop wireless communication network, comprising:

• receiving periodically, information related to channel assessment capability of plurality of nodes of the multi-hop wireless communication network;
• maintaining a metric characterizing the channel assessment capability of the plurality of nodes based on the received channel assessment capability;
• selecting at least one node from the plurality of nodes by comparing the metric of each of the plurality of nodes;
• determining at least one intermediate node that is capable of forwarding a request for channel information to the selected node, wherein the at least one intermediate node is at least one hop away from the node;
• sending the request for channel information to the selected node via the at least one intermediate node;
• and
• receiving channel information from the selected node.

A method of operation of a node for providing channel information in a wireless communication network, comprising:

• receiving periodically, information related to channel assessment capability of plurality of nodes of the wireless communication network;
• maintaining a metric characterizing the channel assessment capability of the plurality of nodes based on the received channel assessment capability;
• receiving, from a requesting node, a request for channel information, including information related to at least one neighbor node of the requesting node;
• determining whether the node has the channel information of at least one neighbor node of the requesting node;
• when the node has the channel information for the at least one neighbor node,
• sending the channel information of the at least one neighbor node to the requesting node;
• and
• when the node does not have the channel information for the at least one neighbor node,
• selecting at least one node from the at least one neighbor node by comparing the metric of each of the at least one neighbor node,
• sending a request for channel information to the selected node,
• receiving the channel information from the selected node, and
• sending the channel information of selected node to the requesting node.

A wireless mesh network for facilitating sharing of channel information, comprising:

• a plurality of mesh nodes;
• and
• at least one intelligent access point capable of connecting at least one of the mesh nodes to a wired backbone;
• and
• wherein each mesh node and intelligent access point
• receive periodically, information related to channel assessment capability of the mesh nodes,
• maintain a metric characterizing the channel assessment capability for each of the plurality of mesh nodes,
• select at least one mesh node based by comparing the metric of each of the plurality of mesh nodes,
• send a request for channel information to the selected mesh node,
• receive channel information from the selected mesh node, and
• share the received channel information to other mesh nodes and intelligent access points of the wireless mesh network.