Architecture and evaluation of an unplanned 802.11b mesh network

This paper evaluates the ability of a wireless mesh architecture to provide high performance Internet access while demanding little deployment planning or operational management. The architecture considered in this paper has unplanned node placement (rather than planned topology), omni-directional antennas (rather than directional links), and multi-hop routing (rather than single-hop base stations). These design decisions contribute to ease of deployment, an important requirement for community wireless networks. However, this architecture carries the risk that lack of planning might render the network’s performance unusably low. For example, it might be necessary to place nodes carefully to ensure connectivity; the omni-directional antennas might provide uselessly short radio ranges; or the inefficiency of multi-hop forwarding might leave some users effectively disconnected. The paper evaluates this unplanned mesh architecture with a case study of the Roofnet 802.11b mesh network. ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: MOBICOM
• Authors: John C. Bicket, Daniel Aguayo, Sanjit Biswas, Robert Morris
• Keywords: Mesh Architecture, MOBICOM 2005, Omni-directional Antennas, Wireless Mesh Architecture