Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The term 'mesh' originally used to suggest that all nodes were connected to
all other nodes, but most modern meshes connect only a sub-set of nodes to
each other.
Still, this is quite different than traditional wireless networks, which require
centralized access points to mediate the wireless connection.
Even two 802.11b nodes that are side-by-side in infrastructure mode must
send data to each other through the access point.
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Wireless Mesh Networks
Each node operates not only as a host but also as a router, forwarding packets on
behalf of other nodes that may not be within direct wireless transmission range of
their destinations.
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Wireless Mesh Networks
Extend the range and link robustness of existing Wi-Fis by allowing mesh-style
multi-hopping
A user finds a nearby user and hops through it - or possibly multiple users - to get
to the destination
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Network Architecture
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WMN COMPONENTS
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Wireless Mesh Networks
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Network Architecture Classification
1. INFRASTRUCTURE MESHING
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INFRASTRUCTURE MESHING
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INFRASTRUCTURE MESHING
.
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INFRASTRUCTURE MESHING
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INFRASTRUCTURE MESHING
If different radio technologies are used, clients must communicate with the base stations that have
Ethernet connections to mesh routers.
For example, community and neighborhood networks can be built using infrastructure meshing.
The mesh routers are placed on the roof of houses in a neighborhood, which serve as access points for
users inside the homes and along the roads.
Typically, two types of radios are used in the routers, i.e., for backbone communication and for user
communication, respectively.
The mesh backbone communication can be established using long-range communication techniques
including directional antennas.
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Client WMNs
Client meshing provides peer-to-peer networks among client devices.
Client nodes constitute the actual network to perform routing and configuration functionalities
as well as providing end-user
applications to customers.
A packet destined to a node in the network hops through multiple nodes to reach the destination.
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Client WMNs
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HYBRID WMNs
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Hybrid WMNs
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CHARACTERISTICS
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WMNs vs AD HOC Networks
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WMNs vs AD HOC Networks
Multiple Radios:
* Mesh routers can be equipped with multiple radios to perform
routing and access functionalities.
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WMNs vs AD HOC Networks
Mobility:
Since ad-hoc networks provide routing using the end-user devices,
the network topology and connectivity depends on the movement
of users.
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WMNs vs AD HOC Networks
Compatibility:
WMNs contain many differences when compared to ad hoc
networks.
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Application Scenarios
1. Broadband Home Networking:
Realized through IEEE 802.11 WLANs
Solutions based on site survey are expensive and not practical for home networking, while installation of multiple access points is
also expensive and not convenient because of Ethernet wiring from access points to backhaul network access modem or hub.
Moreover, communications between end nodes under two different access points have to go all the way back to the access hub.
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Broadband Home Networking
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Application Scenarios
2. Community and Neighborhood Networking:
community, the common architecture for network access is based on cable or DSL
connected to the Internet, and the last-hop is wireless by connecting a wireless router to a
cable or DSL modem.
* Only a single path may be available for one home to access the Internet or
communicate with neighbors.
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Community Networking
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Application Scenarios
3. Enterprise Networking:
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Enterprise Networking
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Application Scenarios
Metropolitan Area Networks:
The physical-layer transmission rate of a node in WMNs is much higher than that
in any cellular networks, e.g., an IEEE 802.11g node can transmit at a rate of 54
Mbps.
Moreover, the communication between nodes in WMNs does not rely on a wired
backbone.
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METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORKS
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Application Scenarios
Transportation Systems:
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Transportation Systems
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Application Scenarios
Building Automation:
In a building, various electrical devices including power, light, elevator, air conditioner, etc.,
need to be controlled and monitored.
Currently this task is accomplished through standard wired networks, which is very
expensive due to the complexity in deployment and maintenance of a wired network.
Recently Wi-Fi based networks have been adopted to reduce the cost of such networks.
However, this effort has not achieved satisfactory performance yet, because deployment of
Wi-Fis for this application is still rather expensive due to wiring of Ethernet.
If BACnet (Building Automation and Control Networks) access points are replaced by mesh
routers, the deployment cost will be significantly reduced.
The deployment process is also much simpler due to the mesh connectivity
among wireless routers.
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Building Automation
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Application Scenarios
Health and Medical Systems:
Data transmission is usually broadband, since high resolution medical images and
various periodical monitoring information can easily produce a constant and large
volume of data.
Traditional wired networks can only provide limited network access to certain
fixed medical devices.
Wi-Fi based networks must rely on the existence of Ethernet connections, which
may cause high system cost and complexity but without the abilities to eliminate
dead spots.
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Application Scenarios
Security Surveillance Systems:
Since still images and videos are the major traffic flowing in the
network, this application demands much higher network capacity
than other applications.
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Critical Factors Influencing Network
Performance
1. Radio Techniques:
Typical examples:
* Directional and smart antennas
* Multi-radio/multi-channel systems
* Reconfigurable radios
2. Scalability
3. Mesh Connectivity
4. Broadband and QoS
5. Compatibility and Inter-Operability
6. Security
7. Ease of Use
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MAC LAYER
* MACs for WMNs are concerned with more than one hop communication
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SINGLE CHANNEL MACs
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SINGLE CHANNEL MACs
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SINGLE CHANNEL MACs
To date, few TDMA or CDMA MAC protocols are available for WMNs,
probably because of two factors:
* The complexity and cost of developing a distributed and cooperative
MAC with TDMA or CDMA.
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SINGLE CHANNEL MACs
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SINGLE CHANNEL MACs
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Multi-Channel MACs
Since only one transceiver is available, only one channel is active at a time in each
network node.
SSCH is actually a virtual MAC protocol, since it works on top of IEEE 802.11
MAC and does not need changes in the IEEE 802.11 MAC.
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Multi-Channel MACs
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Multi-Channel MACs
Multi-Radio MACs
The network node has multiple radios each with its
own MAC and physical layers.
Communications in these radios are totally independent.
Thus, a virtual MAC protocol such as the multi-radio
unification protocol (MUP) is required on top of MAC
to coordinate communications in all channels.
In fact, one radio can have multiple channels in this
case.
However, for simplicity of design and application, a
single fixed channel is usually applied in each radio.
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MAC LAYER-Open Research Issues
Scalable Single-Channel MACs:
\
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MAC LAYER-Open Research Issues
Scalable Multi-Channel MACs
Multi-channel MAC protocols for radios with multiple transceivers have
not been thoroughly explored, possibly due to the relatively high cost
of such radios.
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MAC LAYER-Open Research Issues
Thus, advanced bridging functions must be developed in the MAC layer so that
different wireless radios, such as IEEE 802.11, 802.16, 802.15, etc., can
seamlessly work together.
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Routing Layer
Optimal routing protocol for WMNs must capture the following
features:
* For example, when a link on the minimum hop-count path has bad
quality or experiences congestion, it becomes a bottleneck to the
end-to-end throughput.
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Routing Layer
Scalability.
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Routing Layer
Robustness.
* To avoid service disruption, WMNs must be
robust to link failures or congestion.
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Routing Layer
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Routing Layer
Routing Protocols with Various Performance Metrics:
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Routing Layer
Multi-Radio Routing:
Multi-radio per node is a preferred architecture in the network
layer, because the capacity can be increased without modifying
The MAC protocol.
A multi-radio LQSR (MR-LQSR) is proposed
where a new performance metric, called weighted cumulative
Expected transmission time (WCETT), is incorporated.
WCETT takes into account both link quality metric and the
minimum hop-count and achieves good tradeoff between delay and
throughput.
MR-LQSR assumes that all radios on each node are tuned to non-
interfering channels with the assignment changing infrequently.
In other words, MR-LQSR relies on the MAC layer to perform
channel selection.
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Routing Layer
Multi-Path Routing
* The main objectives of using multi-path routing are to perform
better load balancing and to provide high fault tolerance.
* Multiple paths are selected between source and destination.
* When link is broken on a path due to a bad channel quality or
mobility another path in the set of existing paths can be chosen.
* Thus, without waiting for setting up a new routing path, the
end-to-end delay, throughput, and fault tolerance can be improved.
* However, given a performance metric, the improvement depends on
the availability of node-disjoint routes between source and
destination
* Another drawback of multi-path routing is its complexity
* As a result, how to design a cost-effective multi-path routing
protocol with appropriate performance metrics needs further study.
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Routing Layer
Hierarchical Routing:
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Routing Layer
Hierarchical Routing:
For example, inter-cluster routing can be a proactive protocol, while
intra-cluster routing can be on demand.
When the node density is high, hierarchical routing protocols tend to
achieve much better performance because of less overhead, shorter
average routing path, and quicker set-up procedure of routing path.
However, the complexity of maintaining the hierarchy may compromise
the performance of the routing protocol.
Implementation difficulty, because a node selected as a cluster head
may not necessarily have higher processing capability and channel
capacity than the other nodes.
Unless being intentionally designed so, the cluster head may become
a bottleneck.
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Routing Layer
Geographic Routing:
Compared to topology-based routing schemes, geographic routing schemes
forward packets by only using the position information of nodes in the vicinity
and the destination node.
Thus, topology change has less impact on the geographic routing than other
routing protocols.
However, all greedy routing algorithms have a common problem, i.e., delivery is
not guaranteed even if a path exists between source and destination.
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Routing Layer
Geographic Routing:
Partial flooding and keeping the past routing information can help to
guarantee delivery.
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EXISTING ROUTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATIONS
The Mobile Mesh software is covered by the GNU General Public License (Version 2).
TBRPF, or Topology Broadcast based on Reverse-Path Forwarding, is a proactive, link-state routing
protocol designed for mobile ad-hoc networks, which provides hop-by-hop routing along minimum hop
paths to each destination. It seems it is patent-protected unless it becomes a IETF standard.
OSPF is a link-state routing protocol. It is designed to be run internal to a single Autonomous System.
Each OSPF router maintains an identical database describing the Autonomous System's topology. From
this database, a routing table is calculated by constructing a shortest-path tree.
GNU Zebra is free software that manages TCP/IP-based routing protocols. It is released as part of the
GNU Project, and is distributed under the GNU General Public License. It supports BGP-4 protocol as
described in RFC1771 (A Border Gateway Protocol 4) as well as RIPv1, RIPv2, and OSPFv2.
LocustWorld develops a free bootable CD solution based on the AODV protocol, and also develops and
sells a complete ready-to-deploy MeshBox running its software, most (but not all) of which is available
under the GPL. The MeshBox and mesh software have been used in a number of community networks in
the UK.
4g MeshCube. The German company 4G Mobile Systems has developed a tiny MeshCube running Debian
Linux on a MIPS processor, using MITRE Mobile Mesh routing software. This is a ready-to-deploy
gateway with both a wireless and a wired interface. With a power consumption of 4W (and potentially
lower), it is ideal for deployment with an autonomous sustainable power source.
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Routing Layer- Open Research Issues
Scalability.
Hierarchical routing protocols can only partially solve this
problem due to their complexity and difficulty of management.
Geographic routing relies on the existence of GPS or similar positioning
technologies, which increases cost and complexity of WMNs.
Thus, new scalable routing protocols need to be developed.
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Routing Layer - Open Research Issues
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Routing Layer- Open Research Issues
Hybrid Routing.
In WMNs, mesh routers and mesh clients have
different constraints in power efficiency and
mobility.
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Transport Layer
Reliable Data Transport
* TCP variants
* New transport protocols.
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
TCP Variants:
Non-Congestion Packet Losses.
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
Network Asymmetry.()
Network asymmetry is defined as the situation where the
forward direction of a network is significantly different from
the reverse direction in terms of bandwidth, loss rate, and latency
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS
Real-Time Delivery
RCP protocols can be classified into two types: additive-increase
multiplicative-decrease (AIMD)-based or equation-based.
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS-
OPEN RESEARCH ISSUES
Cross-layer Solution to Network Asymmetry.
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TRANSPORT PROTOCOLS-
OPEN RESEARCH ISSUES
Adaptive TCP.
WMNs will also be integrated with the Internet and
various wireless networks such as IEEE 802.11, 802.16, 802.15,
etc.
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Application Layer
Internet Access.
Various Internet applications provide important timely
information to people,make life more convenient, and increase
work efficiency and productivity.
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Application Layer
Users within WMNs may also want to chat, talk on the video
phones, and play games with each other.
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Application Layer
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Application Layer
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Application Layer
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Application Layer
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Mobility Management
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Mobility Management
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Power Management
For example, some mesh clients are IP phones or even sensors; power
efficiency is the major concern for them.
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Network Monitoring
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SECURITY
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SECURITY
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SECURITY
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SECURITY
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SECURITY
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Cross-Layer Design
The methodology of layered protocol design does not
necessarily lead to an optimum solution.
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Cross-Layer Design
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Cross-Layer Design
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Cross-Layer Design
2. Merge several protocols into one component, e.g., in ad hoc
networks, MAC and routing protocols can be combined into one
protocol in order to closely consider their interactions.
The advantage of the first way is that it does not totally abandon
the transparency between protocol layers.
However, the second way can achieve much better
performance through closer interaction between protocols.
Certain issues must be considered when carrying out
cross-layer protocol design:
Cross-layer design have risks due to loss of protocol layer
abstraction,incompatibility with existing protocols, unforeseen
impact on the future design of the network, and difficulty in
maintenance and management.
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Academic Research Testbeds
Packets are routed between the nodes using the DSR protocol which also
integrates the ad hoc network into the Internet via a gateway.
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Academic Research Testbeds
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Academic Research Testbeds
MIT's Roofnet
This is an experimental multi-hop 802.11b mesh network.
It consists of about 50 wireless nodes to interconnect the Ethernet
networks (with Internet gateways) in apartments in Cambridge, MA.
A primary feature of Roofnet is that it requires no configuration or
planning.
One consequence of an unplanned network is that each node can route
packets through any of a large number of neighbors, but the radio
link to each neighbor is often of marginal quality; finding the best
multi-hop routes through a rich mesh of marginal links turns out to
be a challenge.
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Academic Research Testbeds
MIT's Roofnet
The average TCP throughput and latency of all Roofnet nodes to
their nearest gateway were measured in April 2004.
The low multihop throughput reflects the problem typical in all 802.11
MAC based multihop networks.
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Academic Research Testbeds
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Academic Research Testbeds
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Academic Research Testbeds
The key benefit of the board is that all aspects of the MAC
are coded in C language and, therefore, are altered easily
for research in queueing, security, power management, MIMO,
cognitive radio, and so forth.
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Academic Research Testbeds
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Academic Research Testbeds
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BWN-Mesh Testbed at Georgia Tech
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Academic Research Testbeds
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Academic Research Testbeds
The approaches being explored in the BWN lab are not merely
limited to Wi-Fi mesh networks but also applicable for wireless
sensor networks (WSNs) and wireless sensor and actor networks
(WSANs).
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Academic Research Testbeds
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Industrial Practice
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Industrial Practice
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Industrial Practice
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Industrial Practice
INTEL:
Low-cost and low-power access point prototypes have
been developed to enable further research on
security, traffic characterization, dynamic routing and
configuration, and QoS problems.
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Industrial Practice
Sensor data can enter and exit the 802.11 backbone at multiple
interchanges (the XScale nodes) in order to bypass the
intermediate sensors.
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Industrial Practice
NORTEL:
A peer-to-peer architecturewith smart antennas, integrated routers and adaptive
routing and security capabilitiesto backhaul data wirelessly to wired broadband
networks. This minimizes the need for expensive wired backhaul connections, such
as T1 lines.
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Industrial Practice
Wireless Gateway 7250
The Wireless Gateway advertises reachability for one or more IP
subnets assigned to Wireless LAN CAN subscribers and network
entities.
In addition, the Wireless Gateway hides Wireless LAN-specific mobility
and provides data security for the mesh transit links (between Wireless
AP 7220s).
Optivity Network Management System
The Optivity Network Management System provides centralized
facilities for monitoring and managing network operations, including
discovery and visualization of Wireless AP 7220 and Wireless Gateway
7250, fault management, and real-time performance metrics.
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Industrial Practice
NORTEL
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Industrial Practice
MeshNetworks'
Initial attempt to commercializing mesh technology was its Quadrature
Division multiple access (QDMA) radio platform.
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Industrial Practice
While it will not add any mobile broadband capabilities beyond what 802.11b
can already support, it will extend the range and link robustness of
existing Wi-Fi Networks by allowing mesh-style multi-hopping.
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Industrial Practice
Tropos Networks
employs a cellular Wi-Fi network architecture to support
infrastructure mesh networking, using its a
layer-3 network operating system (NOS) called Tropos Sphere,
that runs on standard 802.11 hardware and software.
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Industrial Practice
However, PWRP does not use routing tables or rely on hop-count only to
select transmission paths.
Since the system is largely a layer-3 solution that relies on the standard
802.11
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INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
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INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
Kiyon Inc.,
is in field trials with building automation
and small office home office'' (SOHO) customers
of its broadband wireless mesh routers.
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INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
This is tightly coupled with a multi-metric Attribute Routing''
network.
runtime.
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INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
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INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
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INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE
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IEEE 802.11 Mesh Networks
Standard Activities
Currently, IEEE 802.11 wireless networks can achieve a
peak rate of 11 Mbps (802.11b) and 54 Mbps (802.11a/g).
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Although many home users will not benefit from the
Standard Activities
additional speed right away, because of limits on
their cable or DSL connections, enterprises are hoping the
technology will allow them to reduce the burden of laying
and maintaining Ethernet cabling throughout the building.
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To become commoditized, the economic pressures are driving the standard
processes.
Standard Activities
Furthermore, protocols for 802.11 ad hoc mode are insufficient for multi-
hop and mesh networking, because of lack of scalability in the MAC protocol,
resulting in poor network performance.
A working group within IEEE 802.11, called 802.11s, has been formed
recently to standardize the extended service Set (ESS).
802.11s aims to define a MAC and PHY layers for meshed networks that
extended coverage with no single point of failure.
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
Clients are associated with access points and need not be aware
of the mesh.
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
In this case, clients can hop through each other to reach other
clients in the network.
To maximize the benefit that meshing can offer, both modes should
be supported simultaneously and seamlessly in a single network
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
While IEEE 802.11 networks fulfill the need for data services
in a local area (i.e. last several hundreds of feet), IEEE 802.16
aims at serving the broadband wireless access in metropolitan
Area networks (i.e., last mile), supporting point-to-multipoint
connection oriented QoS communications to extend fiber optic
backbones.
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Standard Activities
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Standard Activities
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ADVANTAGES OF WMNs
Price:
802.11 radios have become quite cheap, but the radios are often still among the
most expensive elements of such a network. The fact that each mesh node runs
both as a client and as a repeater potentially means saving on the number of radios
needed and thus the total budget.
Ease and simplicity:
If you have a box that is pre-installed with wireless mesh software and uses
standard wireless protocols such as 802.11b/g, the setup is extremely simple. Since
routes are configured dynamically, it is often enough to simply drop the box into
the network, and attach whatever antennas are required for it to reach one or
more existing neighboring nodes (assuming that we can solve the issue of IP
address allocation).
Organization and business models:
The decentralized nature of mesh networks lends itself well to a decentralized
ownership model wherein each participant in the network owns and maintains their
own hardware, which can greatly simplify the financial and community aspects of
the system.
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ADVANTAGES OF WMNs
Network robustness:
The character of mesh topology and ad-hoc routing promises greater stability
in the face of changing conditions or failure at single nodes, which will quite
likely be under rough and experimental conditions.
Power:
The substrate nodes of a mesh network can be built with extremely low power
requirements, meaning that they can be deployed as completely autonomous
units with solar, wind, or hydro power.
Power generating units are typically connected to points of infrastructure and
human presence.
This makes them valid locations for network nodes.
As a secondary benefit, the presence of integrated network nodes within
power networks may allow for better monitoring and management.
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ADVANTAGES OF WMNs
Integration:
Mesh hardware is typically small, noiseless, and easily encapsulated in
weatherproof boxes.
This means it also integrates nicely outdoors as well as in human
housing.
Reality fit:
Reality rarely comes as a star, ring, or a straight line. In difficult
terrain -- be that urban or remote -- where not every user can see one
or few central points, chances are one can see one or more neighboring
users.
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FURTHER ADVANTAGES
Provides a value-added entry into the high-speed wireless packet and data
business
Utilizes 802.11 technologythe interface of choice for high-speed wireless packet
data.
Offers high-speed wireless packet data access across a wider coverage area
Today's cellular systems do not provide the bandwidth available in WLANs.
Today's isolated hotspot 802.11 deployments do not satisfy user desire for
ubiquitous access or for mobility.
Emergence of small-form factor terminals with 802.11 wireless interfaces means
impending demand for adding mobility to WLAN packet data services.
Minimizes cost of capital, installation and commissioning
Utilizes low-cost 802.11 technology.
Uses wireless links for backhaul to eliminate costs associates with installation of
wired interconnect.
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FURTHER ADVANTAGES
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Ugly Truths
1. Radio is a shared medium and forces everyone to stay silent while one person
holds the stage.
Wired networks, on the other hand, can and do hold multiple simultaneous
conversations.
2. In a single radio ad hoc mesh network, the best you can do is (1/2)^^n at each
hop.
So in a multi hop mesh network, the max available bandwidth available to you
degrades at the rate of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8.
By the time you are 4 hops away the max you can get is 1/16 of the total
available bandwidth.
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Ugly Truths
3. That does not sound too bad when you are putting together a wireless sensor
network with limited bandwidth and latency considerations.
Consider the case of just 10 client stations at each node of a 4 hop mesh
network.
The clients at the last rung will receive -at best- 1/(16,0000) of the total
bandwidth at the root.
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Ugly Truths
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Is this a Disruptive Technology?
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What is a Disruptive Technology?
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WMNs as Disruptive Technology
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REMARKS
But for Video and Data with a certain bandwidth, they will take
off in wireless as the physical wireless capacity becomes really
broadband and reliable for mobile end users.
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REMARKS
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Wireless Mesh Networks
Case Studies
IFA05 ECE6610