  The largest strength of contention-based MAC protocols is simultaneously the
largest weakness of their scheduled counterparts: the ability to adapt to
changes in network conditions. For scheduling to be competitive in mobile
wireless networks, continuous adaptation must be addressed. We propose ATLAS,
an Adaptive Topology- and Load-Aware Scheduling protocol to address this
problem. In ATLAS, each node employs a random schedule achieving its
persistence, the fraction of time a node is permitted to transmit, that is
computed in a topology and load dependent manner. A distributed auction (REACT)
piggybacks offers and claims onto existing network traffic to compute a
lexicographic max-min channel allocation. A node's persistence p is related to
its allocation. Its schedule achieving p is updated where and when needed,
without waiting for a frame boundary.We study how ATLAS adapts to controlled
changes in topology and load. Our results show that ATLAS adapts to most
network changes in less than 0.1s, with about 20% relative error, scaling with
network size. We further study ATLAS in more dynamic networks showing that it
keeps up with changes in topology and load sufficient for TCP to sustain
multi-hop flows, a struggle in IEEE 802.11 networks. The stable performance of
ATLAS supports the design of higher-layer services that inform, and are
informed by, the underlying communication network.
