Scheduling Wireless Ad Hoc Networks in Polynomial Time Using Claw-free Conflict Graphs

In this paper, we address the scheduling problem in wireless ad hoc networks by exploiting the computational advantage that comes when such scheduling problems can be represented by claw-free conflict graphs. It is possible to formulate a scheduling problem of network coded flows as finding maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) in the conflict graph of the network. We consider activation of hyperedges in a hypergraph to model a wireless broadcast medium. We show that the conflict graph of certain wireless ad hoc networks are claw-free. It is known that finding MWIS of a general graph is NP-hard, but in a claw-free conflict graph, it is possible to apply Minty's or Faenza et al.'s algorithms in polynomial time. We discuss our approach on some sample networks.