Wireless Mesh Network Structure (1)

Everyone should have some knowledge about wireless Mesh networks. It is a combination of multi-hop and traditional wireless performance, and a new wireless network. Its birth has brought us a new concept of wireless. So where is it new? This article focuses on the wireless Mesh network structure. We hope that this article will give you a comprehensive understanding of the wireless Mesh network structure and an intuitive understanding of its network architecture.

Wireless Mesh Network Structure

In traditional Wireless Access Technologies, the point-to-point or point-to-point topology is used. This type of topology generally has a central node, such as a base station in the mobile communication system and an AP in the 802.11 WLAN. On the one hand, the central node is connected to each wireless terminal through a single hop wireless link to control the wireless terminal's access to the wireless network. On the other hand, the central node is connected to the wired backbone network through a wired link, provides a connection to the backbone network.

In wireless Mesh networks, the Mesh topology is also a network topology with multiple points to multiple points. In this wireless Mesh network structure, each network node is connected by another adjacent network node in a wireless multi-hop mode. Currently, wireless Mesh networks are generally considered to contain two types of network nodes: Mesh routers and Mesh clients.

In addition to the gateway/relay function of the traditional wireless router, the Mesh router also supports the routing function of Mesh network interconnection. Mesh routers generally have multiple wireless interfaces. These wireless interfaces can be built based on the same wireless access technology or different wireless access technologies. Compared with traditional wireless routers, wireless Mesh routers can achieve the same wireless coverage with lower transmission power through wireless multi-hop communication.

Mesh terminals also have some Mesh network interconnection and group forwarding functions, but generally do not have the gateway bridging function. Generally, a Mesh terminal has only one wireless interface, which is much less complex than a Mesh router.

According to the function of each node, the wireless Mesh network structure is divided into three categories: backbone network Mesh structure hierarchical structure), client Mesh structure plane structure), hybrid structure.

1. Backbone Network Mesh Structure

The Mesh structure of the backbone network is composed of Mesh routers. It is a self-configured and self-healing network that is connected to the Internet through the gateway function of the Mesh router, common clients and existing wireless networks can access WMN through the gateway or relay function of the Mesh router, as shown in network 1.

Figure 1 Backbone Network Mesh Structure

The dotted line and solid line represent wireless and wired connections respectively. Using a variety of wireless technologies including IEEE 802.11, common clients with Ethernet interfaces directly access the Mesh router through the Ethernet interface. If the common client uses the same wireless technology as the Mesh router, communication can be established directly. If different wireless technologies are used, then, different clients must first connect the base stations with Ethernet interfaces to the Mesh router.