Basic knowledge of Wireless Mesh Network Access Technology

Source: Internet
Author: User

Wireless Mesh Network access technology is worth learning. Here we will mainly explain what wireless Mesh network access technology is, and also introduce the features of wireless Mesh network access technology, I hope to help you understand the wireless Mesh network access technology. The term "Mesh" originally meant that all nodes are connected to each other. The wireless Mesh network access technology is a completely different network from the traditional wireless network. A traditional wireless network must first access a centralized access point (AP) for wireless connection. In this way, even if two 802.11b nodes are interconnected with each other, they must communicate through the access point. In a wireless Mesh network, each node can communicate directly with one or more peer nodes.

What is wireless Mesh network access technology?
A wireless Mesh network, also known as multi-hop, is a new wireless network technology that is completely different from a traditional wireless network.

In traditional wireless LAN (WLAN), each client accesses the network through a wireless link connected to the AP. If you want to communicate with each other, you must first access a fixed access point (AP). This network structure is called a single hop Network. In a wireless Mesh network, any wireless device node can act as both an AP and a router. each node in the network can send and receive signals, each node can communicate directly with one or more peer nodes.

The biggest benefit of this structure is that if the recent AP is congested due to heavy traffic, the data can be automatically routed to a nearby node with low communication traffic. Based on the network conditions, data packets can be routed to the nearest node for transmission until the final destination is reached. This method is multi-hop access.

Wireless Mesh Network is a new wireless network architecture. Its core guiding ideology is to enable each node in the network to send and receive signals, the traditional WLAN has always had many problems such as low scalability and poor robustness. The emergence of wireless Mesh network access technology represents another great challenge of wireless network technology, it has broad application prospects. Wireless Mesh is a wireless network solution suitable for covering large open area cities (including outdoor and indoor areas.

Features of Wireless Mesh Network Access Technology
It is composed of a group of Network-distributed wireless APs, which are connected through wireless relay links in point-to-point mode, extend the wireless "Hotspot" in traditional WLAN to a "hot zone" that is truly covered by a large area ". Self-configuration: APS in the wireless Mesh network can be automatically configured and centrally managed, simplifying network management and maintenance. Self-healing: APS in the wireless Mesh network provide white motion discovery and dynamic routing connections to eliminate the impact of spof on services and provide redundant paths.

High bandwidth: the "Hotspot" coverage of traditional WLAN is extended to a larger range of "hot zone" coverage, eliminating the bandwidth decrease caused by the increase of distance of the original WLAN. In addition, in a Mesh system, signals can avoid interference from obstacles, so that signal transmission is unobstructed and blind spots are eliminated.

High utilization: high utilization is another technical advantage of Mesh networks. In a single hop Network, a fixed AP is shared by multiple devices. As network devices increase, the AP communication network availability will be greatly reduced. In a Mesh network, because each node is an AP, this type of problem does not occur at all. Once the availability of an AP decreases, the data is automatically transferred by selecting an AP. Compatibility: The Mesh adopts the standard 802. The 11b/g standard is widely compatible with wireless client terminals. In addition, wireless Mesh provides better mobile roaming capabilities and end-to-end secure connections.

Wi-Mesh Alliance
The Wi-Mesh alliance is composed of companies with the same concept. It is expected that wireless users can enjoy the convenience of seamless communication regardless of the manufacturer's products through a set of wireless Mesh network standards. The Wi-Mesh alliance proposal is based on the IEEE Standard Association (IEEEStandards Association) Guiding Principles and expands the reuse and compatibility of technologies based on existing and future 802.11 communication protocols.

Members of the Wi-Mesh alliance are industry leaders from various fields, including zhibang technology, Nortel, ComNets, InterDigital, NextHop, And Thomson. They are actively working together to promote the standardization of global wireless Mesh areas (Mesh WLAN) to promote the interconnectivity between various wireless communication devices and services. Through extensive technical cooperation among partners, the Wi-Mesh Alliance met with the 802.11 Task Group (TGs) of the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, the latest network standard proposal for the world's wireless mesh areas was successfully submitted.

The Wi-Mesh alliance proposal is designed to expand 802.11n high-output specifications in the future. This policy will support existing Wi-Fi network bases around the world and expand the establishment of Wi-Fi networks in existing specified radio channels. Recently, Nortel also released the Mesh network architecture, announcing that it will work with traditional telecom networks in the future to form a complementary Seamless Roaming network.


Compared with traditional WLAN, the wireless Mesh network access technology has the following advantages:

(1) Fast deployment and easy installation
Installing Mesh nodes is very simple. Just remove the device from the box and connect it to the power supply. You can easily add new nodes to expand the coverage and network capacity of the wireless network. Mesh is designed to minimize the number of wired devices and APS, thus greatly reducing the total cost of ownership and installation time. The cost savings brought by this alone are considerable. The configuration and other network management functions of the wireless Mesh network are the same as those of the traditional WLAN. the user experience of WLAN can be easily applied to the Mesh network.

(2) NLOS)
The wireless Mesh network access technology can easily Implement NLOS configuration, so it has a wide range of application prospects in outdoor and public places. Users with direct line of sight with the transmitting station receive wireless signals first, and then forward the received signals to non-direct line of sight users. In this way, the signal can automatically select the optimal path to continuously jump from one user to another, and finally reach the target user without direct line of sight. In this way, users with direct line of sight actually provide wireless broadband access for nearby users without direct line of sight. The non-line-of-sight transmission feature of the wireless Mesh network greatly extends the application and coverage of wireless broadband.

(3) Robustness
A common way to achieve network robustness is to use multiple routers to transmit data. If a router fails, the information is transmitted by another router through the backup path. Mesh networks are more robust than single hop networks because they do not depend on the performance of a single node. In a single hop Network, if a node fails, the entire network will be paralyzed. In the Mesh network structure, each node has one or several data transmission paths. If a fault or interference occurs on the nearest node, the data packet is automatically routed to the backup path for further transmission. The entire network is not affected.

(4) Flexible Structure
In a single hop Network, the device must share the AP. If several devices need to access the network at the same time, communication congestion may occur and the system running speed may decrease. In a multi-hop Network, devices can connect to the network through different nodes at the same time, so the system performance will not decrease. Mesh networks also provide greater redundancy mechanisms and communication load balancing functions.

(5) high bandwidth
The physical characteristics of wireless communication determine that the shorter the communication distance, the higher the bandwidth, because with the increase of wireless transmission distance, various interference and other factors that lead to data loss will increase. Therefore, selecting to transmit data through multiple short hops is an effective way to obtain higher network bandwidth, which is the advantage of wireless Mesh network access technology.

In a Mesh network, a node can not only send and receive information, but also act as a router to forward information to nearby nodes. As more nodes are connected to each other and the number of possible paths increases, the total bandwidth is also greatly increased. in addition, because the transmission distance of each short hop is short, the power required for data transmission is also small. Since multi-hop networks usually transmit data to neighboring nodes at a low power, the wireless signal interference between nodes is also small, and the channel quality and channel utilization efficiency of the network are greatly improved, therefore, higher network capacity can be achieved. For example, in a high-density urban network environment, wireless Mesh network access technology can reduce mutual interference between neighboring Wireless Mesh Network Access technicians using wireless networks, greatly improving the efficiency of channel utilization.

  1. Analysis on the development of broadband wireless access technology
  2. Analysis of multiple modes of access network technology
  3. Characteristics and Solutions of Broadband Access Networks
  4. Access Network Technology will move towards integration
  5. Introduction to ADSL Access Network Technology

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