Traffic-aware slot assignment

A computer-readable hardware storage device that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a station (STA), the instructions to configure the one or more processors to:

• decode signaling, received from a node of the multi-hop network, to determine an indication of a change to a topology of the multi-hop network;
• and
• in response to a determination, from the decoded signaling, of an addition of a second node to the multi-hop network topology:
• increment a total of a number of descendant nodes;
• and
• allocate at least one transmission slot to a number of unused slots in one or more transmission opportunity regions of a slotframe, wherein the slotframe includes a repeating pattern of one or more transmission opportunity periods for a plurality of nodes in the network.

A system comprising at least one station (STA) configured to operate as a node in a multi-hop wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes, the STA configured to:

• decode signaling, received from a node of the multi-hop network, to determine an indication of a change to a topology of the multi-hop network;
• in response to a determination, from the decoded signaling, of an addition of a second node to the multi-hop network topology:
• increment a total of a number of descendant nodes;
• and
• allocate at least one transmission slot to a number of unused slots in one or more transmission opportunity regions of a slotframe, wherein the slotframe includes a repeating pattern of one or more transmission opportunity periods for a plurality of nodes in the network;
• and
• in response to a determination, from the indication of the change to the topology, a removal of the second node from the multi-hop network topology:
• deallocate the transmission slot from the one or more transmission opportunity regions of the slotframe;
• and
• decrement the total of the number of descendant nodes.