US Patent 7729260 Cost determination in a multihop network

In a multihop communications network a cost determination method includes determining a plurality of simultaneously potential or favorable next hop nodes for at least one of the nodes between a source and a destination node pair, whereby a mesh-like path comprising a plurality of simultaneously potential routes or paths is defined between the source and destination node. This mesh-like structure is typically determined in a distributed manner and results from a cost optimization process. The cost optimization should preferably consider stochastic variations that for example are caused by the wireless medium.