Show
Do you have problems with your home or office network that you’ve just chalked up to “that’s the way it is?” Maybe your internet cuts out when the microwave is on or you have that one room way at the end of the hallway that no one can get a connection in. Your network is really the backbone of anything you do online. Without a decent internet connection, you can’t work effectively, video calls freeze or get dropped, and instead of enjoying that new streaming movie release, you get frustrating buffering. Today’s networks are more overloaded than ever due to cloud applications being used for just about everything, meaning you need a connection just to get things done. Networks also are getting more crowded due to mobile and IoT devices (Ring security cameras, smart speakers, etc.). That additional overloading can lead to those small issues that you “just deal with” becoming more problematic and eating into more of your productive online time. If you’re dealing with network issues like “dead zones” and lack of signal reach, it may be time to upgrade from a single router to a wireless mesh network. What is the Difference Between a Router & a Mesh Network?First, let’s look at how a wireless mesh network differs from a single wireless router network. When you have just one wireless router, the farther a device is from that signal, the weaker the internet connection. Since the Wi-Fi is generated from a single point, it can also easily run into interference with things like a solid block wall, heavy piece of furniture, or a microwave (which can use the same frequency as a Wi-Fi). You’ve also got just a single point of failure. If that router goes down, your entire internet is down. A wireless mesh network uses one node (or router) that connects directly to your ISP’s modem, and then adds additional nodes (i.e., connection points) that can be placed strategically around your home or office, inside or outside. Devices can connect to the main node or any of the others. What this does is blanket the area with a net (or “mesh”) of internet connectivity, improving reach, signal strength, and reliability. The mesh network market is expected to grow over 20% between 2020 and 2026. Advantages of Upgrading To a Wireless Mesh NetworkYou No Longer Have One Point of FailureWhen you have multiple internet connection nodes, you eliminate the issue with a single point of failure that you have with a single router setup. If one of the mesh nodes goes down, the others pick up the slack and keep you connected. As long as you still have an internet connection coming from the modem, you can stay online while getting the down node repaired or rebooted. You Can Easily Increase the Reach of Your NetworkThe beauty of a mesh network is that it’s expandable affordably. If you need Wi-Fi to reach a far corner office or out to your garage, just add another node and connect it to the others. Each node will come with a certain area of signal reach, allowing you to remove any weak zones or dead spots when it comes to your Wi-Fi, and even expand into outdoor areas using a node designed for outside use. Better Multiple Device HandlingBecause devices don’t all have to connect to the same single router, a mesh network handles multiple devices much better, ensuring each gets the bandwidth they need. If one node is getting overcrowded, the mesh system can even automatically switch a device to another less crowded node without the user dropping any connections. Less InterferenceSolid walls and other potential areas of interference for a single router signal are no longer a problem if you have a mesh network. Each node is connected to another creating a huge internet web, so signals each easily move around potential solid barriers and keep users connected with a strong and reliable connection. Self-ConfiguringMesh network nodes are designed to be easy to use and self-configuring. They connect to the other nodes automatically and all can adjust to any potential problems, like one node going offline. They’re designed to be fluid and keep in continuous contact with each other, your modem, and your devices. Place Then AnywhereWireless mesh nodes are designed to be easy to place anywhere you need to. They are roughly the size of a coffee thermos or large mug and can be placed on counter tops, mounted on walls and easily moved to accommodate your home or office needs. Are You Being Held Back by a Problematic Network?Whether you have a Sturgeon Bay business with Wi-Fi issues or need more power for your home Wi-Fi, Quantum PC Services can help with expert network solutions. Contact us today to learn more! Call 920-256-1214 or reach us online. Diagram showing a possible configuration for a wired-wireless mesh network, connected upstream via a VSAT link (click to enlarge)A wireless mesh network (WMN) is a communications network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. It can also be a form of wireless ad hoc network.[1] A mesh refers to rich interconnection among devices or nodes. Wireless mesh networks often consist of mesh clients, mesh routers and gateways. Mobility of nodes is less frequent. If nodes constantly or frequently move, the mesh spends more time updating routes than delivering data. In a wireless mesh network, topology tends to be more static, so that routes computation can converge and delivery of data to their destinations can occur. Hence, this is a low-mobility centralized form of wireless ad hoc network. Also, because it sometimes relies on static nodes to act as gateways, it is not a truly all-wireless ad hoc network.[citation needed] Mesh clients are often laptops, cell phones, and other wireless devices. Mesh routers forward traffic to and from the gateways, which may or may not be connected to the Internet. The coverage area of all radio nodes working as a single network is sometimes called a mesh cloud. Access to this mesh cloud depends on the radio nodes working together to create a radio network. A mesh network is reliable and offers redundancy. When one node can no longer operate, the rest of the nodes can still communicate with each other, directly or through one or more intermediate nodes. Wireless mesh networks can self form and self heal. Wireless mesh networks work with different wireless technologies including 802.11, 802.15, 802.16, cellular technologies and need not be restricted to any one technology or protocol. HistoryWireless mesh radio networks were originally developed for military applications, such that every node could dynamically serve as a router for every other node. In that way, even in the event of a failure of some nodes, the remaining nodes could continue to communicate with each other, and, if necessary, serve as uplinks for the other nodes. Early wireless mesh network nodes had a single half-duplex radio that, at any one instant, could either transmit or receive, but not both at the same time. This was accompanied by the development of shared mesh networks. This was subsequently superseded by more complex radio hardware that could receive packets from an upstream node and transmit packets to a downstream node simultaneously (on a different frequency or a different CDMA channel). This allowed the development of switched mesh networks. As the size, cost, and power requirements of radios declined further, nodes could be cost-effectively equipped with multiple radios. This, in turn, permitted each radio to handle a different function, for instance, one radio for client access, and another for backhaul services. Work in this field has been aided by the use of game theory methods to analyze strategies for the allocation of resources and routing of packets.[2][3][4] FeaturesArchitectureWireless mesh architecture is a first step towards providing cost effective and low mobility over a specific coverage area. Wireless mesh infrastructure is, in effect, a network of routers minus the cabling between nodes. It is built of peer radio devices that do not have to be cabled to a wired port like traditional WLAN access points (AP) do. Mesh infrastructure carries data over large distances by splitting the distance into a series of short hops. Intermediate nodes not only boost the signal, but cooperatively pass data from point A to point B by making forwarding decisions based on their knowledge of the network, i.e. perform routing by first deriving the topology of the network. Wireless mesh networks is a relatively "stable-topology" network except for the occasional failure of nodes or addition of new nodes. The path of traffic, being aggregated from a large number of end users, changes infrequently. Practically all the traffic in an infrastructure mesh network is either forwarded to or from a gateway, while in wireless ad hoc networks or client mesh networks the traffic flows between arbitrary pairs of nodes.[5] If rate of mobility among nodes are high, i.e., link breaks happen frequently, wireless mesh networks start to break down and have low communication performance.[6] ManagementThis type of infrastructure can be decentralized (with no central server) or centrally managed (with a central server).[7] Both are relatively inexpensive, and can be very reliable and resilient, as each node needs only transmit as far as the next node. Nodes act as routers to transmit data from nearby nodes to peers that are too far away to reach in a single hop, resulting in a network that can span larger distances. The topology of a mesh network must be relatively stable, i.e., not too much mobility. If one node drops out of the network, due to hardware failure or any other reason, its neighbors can quickly find another route using a routing protocol. ApplicationsMesh networks may involve either fixed or mobile devices. The solutions are as diverse as communication needs, for example in difficult environments such as emergency situations, tunnels, oil rigs, battlefield surveillance, high-speed mobile-video applications on board public transport, real-time racing-car telemetry, or self-organizing Internet access for communities.[8] An important possible application for wireless mesh networks is VoIP. By using a quality of service scheme, the wireless mesh may support routing local telephone calls through the mesh. Most applications in wireless mesh networks are similar to those in wireless ad hoc networks. Some current applications:
OperationThe principle is similar to the way packets travel around the wired Internet—data hops from one device to another until it eventually reaches its destination. Dynamic routing algorithms implemented in each device allow this to happen. To implement such dynamic routing protocols, each device needs to communicate routing information to other devices in the network. Each device then determines what to do with the data it receives – either pass it on to the next device or keep it, depending on the protocol. The routing algorithm used should attempt to always ensure that the data takes the most appropriate (fastest) route to its destination. Multi-radio meshMulti-radio mesh refers to having different radios operating at different frequencies to interconnect nodes in a mesh. This means there is a unique frequency used for each wireless hop and thus a dedicated CSMA collision domain. With more radio bands, communication throughput is likely to increase as a result of more available communication channels. This is similar to providing dual or multiple radio paths to transmit and receive data. Research topicsOne of the more often cited papers on Wireless Mesh Networks identified the following areas as open research problems in 2005
Examples
ProtocolsRouting protocolsThere are more than 70 competing schemes for routing packets across mesh networks. Some of these include:
The IEEE has developed a set of standards under the title 802.11s. A less thorough list can be found at list of ad hoc routing protocols. Autoconfiguration protocols
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mesh network. Standard autoconfiguration protocols, such as DHCP or IPv6 stateless autoconfiguration may be used over mesh networks. Mesh network specific autoconfiguration protocols include:
Communities and providers
See also
References
External links
|