System and method for adaptive frame size management in a wireless multihop network

1. A method for determining frame size in a wireless multihop network, the method comprising:

transmitting a packet from a source to a destination;

receiving an acknowledgement packet at the source;

incrementing a successful acknowledgement packet counter upon a determination that the acknowledgement packet arrived at the source prior to a time-out of a timer;

increasing the frame size upon a determination that the successful acknowledgement packet counter has reached a specified value;

upon a determination that the acknowledgement packet arrived at the source after the time-out of the timer,

resetting the successful acknowledgement packet counter;

decreasing the frame size; and

repeating the transmitting, the receiving, the incrementing, the increasing, the resetting, and the decreasing until the frame size is greater than or equal to a maximum frame size or less than or equal to a minimum frame size.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the frame size is less than or equal to the minimum frame size, then concatenating packets into frames is prohibited for a specified amount of time.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising resetting the successful acknowledgement packet counter upon the determination that the successful acknowledgement packet counter has reached the specified value.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising prior to the transmitting, determining an initial value for the timer.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining of the initial value comprises:

transmitting a second packet between the source and the destination;

receiving a second acknowledgement packet; and

setting the initial value based upon a time between the transmitting of the second packet and the receiving of the second acknowledgement packet.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the initial value is computed from an expected time value for each wireless link spanning the source and the destination and a number of wireless links spanning the source and the destination.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein there is a plurality of source and destination pairs in the wireless multihop network, and wherein the method is used to determine a frame size for each source and destination pair.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein there is a plurality of wireless links spanning a path from the source to the destination, and wherein the method is used to determine a frame size for each wireless link in the plurality of wireless links.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a priority is given to a wireless link depending upon an amount of traffic that traverses it, and wherein the determination of the frame size is dependent upon the wireless link's priority.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the timer with an average time elapsed between transmitting a packet and receiving an acknowledgement for each of the specified values of successful packet transmissions and acknowledgement receipts upon the determination that the successful acknowledgement packet counter has reached the specified value.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resetting and the decreasing does not occur until the source receives a specified number of acknowledgement packets arriving at the source after the time-out of the timer.

12. A method for determining frame size in a wireless multihop network, the method comprising:

sending a packet from a source to a destination;

receiving an acknowledgement packet from the destination at the source;

setting a timeout interval of a timer;

reducing a frame size if the acknowledgement packet is not received from the destination within the timeout interval;

increasing the frame size if a predetermined number of successive acknowledgement packets are received and meet the timeout interval; and

repeating the sending, the receiving, the reducing, and the increasing until the frame size is greater than or equal to a maximum frame size or less than or equal to a minimum frame size.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein if the frame size is less than or equal to the minimum frame size, then concatenating packets into frames is prohibited for a specified amount of time.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the setting a timeout interval of a timer comprises:

transmitting a second packet between the source and the destination;

receiving a second acknowledgement packet from the destination at the source; and

setting the timeout interval based upon a time between the transmitting of the second packet and the receiving of the second acknowledgement packet.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the timeout interval is computed from an expected time value for each wireless link spanning the source and the destination and a number of wireless links spanning the source and the destination.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the wireless multihop network comprises a plurality of source and destination pairs in the wireless multihop network, and wherein the method is used to determine a frame size for each source and destination pair.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the wireless multihop network comprises a plurality of wireless links spanning a path from the source to the destination, and wherein the method is used to determine a frame size for each wireless link in the plurality of wireless links.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein a priority is given to a wireless link depending upon an amount of traffic that traverses it, and wherein the determination of the frame size is dependent upon the priority of the wireless link.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising updating the timer with an average time elapsed between transmitting a packet and receiving an acknowledgement for each of the successive acknowledgement packets upon the determination that the predetermined number of successive acknowledgement packets has been received.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the reducing does not occur until the source receives a specified number of acknowledgement packets arriving at the source after the timeout interval of the timer.