Difference between Mesh definition and WiFi

A wireless Mesh network, also known as "multi-hop", is a new wireless network technology that is completely different from a traditional wireless network. A wireless mesh network is a new network structure based on multi-hop routing and peer-to-peer network technology. It features mobile broadband and can be dynamically expanded, self-networking, and self-management, automatic Repair and self-balancing. Compared with Wi-Fi, wireless Mesh greatly improves networking, transmission distance, and mobility, especially its compatibility with Wi-Fi, therefore, wireless Mesh networks can greatly help increase the transmission distance and mobility of Wi-Fi and expand Wi-Fi applications. At the same time, the popularization and application of terminals will bring benefits to the rapid promotion of wireless Mesh. Therefore, Wi-Fi and wireless Mesh networks can complement and integrate with each other.

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.

Compared with traditional switched networks, wireless Mesh networks remove the need for wiring between nodes, but still have the redundancy mechanism and re-routing function provided by distributed networks. In a wireless Mesh network, if you want to add a new device, you only need to simply connect to the power, it can automatically configure itself, and determine the best multi-hop transmission path. When a device is added or a mobile device is added, the network can automatically detect topology changes and adjust communication routes to obtain the most effective transmission path.

Wireless Mesh is a wireless network solution suitable for covering large areas of open area cities (including outdoor and indoor. A wireless Mesh network consists of a group of Network-distributed wireless APs, which are interconnected 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 ".

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, Mesh networks can reduce mutual interference between adjacent users using wireless networks and greatly improve the efficiency of channel utilization.

1. Basic Technology for Wireless MESH Network Access
2. Graphic technology related to the scalability of Wireless Mesh Networks