Wireless Mesh Networking - Essay Example

The nodes of WMN are made up of mesh clients and mesh routers. The mesh routers, which usually have minimum mobility, provide access to the network for both convectional and mesh clients. WMNs’ interaction with other networks can be made possible through the bridging and gateway functions within the mesh routers (Akyildiz, Wang & Wang, 1). The mesh clients, like desktops and laptops, can either be mobile or stationary and are able to generate a client mesh network with mesh routers and among themselves.

Each node works both as a host and as a router that forwards packets for the other nodes that are not within the range of direct wireless transmissions with their destinations. WMNs may face steep competition from other broadband technologies like the xDSL, cable, satellite internet, and Broadband Wireless Local Loop but they possess significant advantages that make them a viable alternative according to Jun and Sichitiu (1). Some of the applications and scenarios where this technology appears to be more affordable and versatile than other wireless or wired technologies include in emergency situations, extensive coverage areas, and unwired, under-wired or hard-to-wire areas (Lee et al., 56). Examples of extensive coverage areas are stadiums, offices, and campus networks while hard-to-wire areas include highways, golf courses, and conduits.

WMNs are anticipated to reduce limitations and improve the performance of wireless local area networks, ad hoc networks, wireless metropolitan area networks, and wireless personal area networks (Akyildiz et al., 1). Like the internet, a mesh network offers several surplus communication paths that automatically route data through alternative paths should the one link fail for whatever reason. The reduction of the distance between nodes in a mesh network significantly increases the link quality resulting in a more powerful signal at the receiver.

Links, therefore, are more reliable without the necessity of increasing transmitting power at the individual nodes. WMN may be the result of many years of research but it still possesses numerous research issues according to Zhang, Luo, and Hu, 144). Its special properties allow and require optimizations so as to satisfy the goals for the use of WMNs with each application scenario requiring different optimizations. Network capacity and high network throughput are vital requirements in practical deployments.

ConclusionWMNs now attract a lot of attention from universities and industrial companies. The fast expansion of wireless communication has brought down the prices of radio devices and consequently improved their quality. With the numerous efforts being made towards the advancement in wireless technology, perhaps we are ushering in the new era of wireless mesh networking.