PROJECT PROPOSAL EEL 5718 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION
Implementation of Wireless Mesh Network using
Alpine Linux
Neeraj Poddar, Komal Kasat
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville
Abstract - A wireless mesh network (WMN) is a
communications network made up of radio nodes organized
in a mesh topology. Mesh topology is a type of networking
wherein each node in the network may act as an independent
router, regardless of whether it is connected to another
network or not. It allows for continuous connections and
reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by
“hopping” from node to node until the destination is
reached. In this project we intend to implement a wireless
mesh network by configuring Alpine Linux on a laptop as a
mesh node for wireless clients. This will enable the users in
vicinity to connect to the network wirelessly and gain access
to internet.
I. INTRODUCTION
In a wireless mesh network, the network connection is spread
out among dozens or even hundreds of wireless mesh nodes
that "talk" to each other to share the network connection
across a large area. Mesh nodes are small radio transmitters
that function in the same way as a wireless router. Nodes use
the common WiFi standards known as 802.11a, b and g to
communicate wirelessly with users, and, more importantly,
with each other. Each node operates not only as a host but also
as a router, forwarding packets on behalf of other nodes that
may not be within direct wireless transmission of their
destination. The biggest advantage of wireless mesh networks
as opposed to wired or fixed wireless networks is that they are
truly wireless. Most traditional wireless access points still
need to be wired to the Internet to broadcast their signal. In a
wireless mesh network, only one node needs to be physically
wired to a network connection. That one wired node then
shares its Internet connection wirelessly with all other nodes in
its vicinity and hence the network grows.
Fig.1 Wireless Mesh Network
II. IMPLEMENTATION
The project implementation includes a basic understanding
of the mesh topology architecture. The functionalities of the
various components like the nodes and the routing
algorithms for intelligent packets transfer will be studied in
details. The wireless NIC will be configured with Alpine
Linux so that it can detect and connect to the available
wireless networks. The next step involves configuring it as
an access point so that other devices can connect to it
wirelessly. Once the device works as an access point we will
configure it as a mesh node so that the connected clients can
access the internet via this node. These steps can convert a
simple laptop to act as a mesh node and hence setting up an
entire mesh network.
III. PROJECT SCOPE
Wireless mesh networks are effective in sharing Internet
connectivity because the more nodes that are installed, the
further the signal can travel and the more nodes you have, the
stronger and faster the Internet connection becomes for the
user. Wireless mesh networks are the next step in the evolution
of wireless architecture, delivering wireless services for a large
variety of applications in personal, local, campus, and
metropolitan area. The more nodes, the further the connection
spreads, creating a wireless "cloud of connectivity" that can
serve a small office or a city of millions.
IV. REFERENCES
[1] Ian F. Akyildiz, Xudong Wang, Weilin Wang - Wireless
mesh networks: a survey
[2] Jangeun Jun and Mihail L. Sichitiu - The Nominal
Capacity of Wireless Mesh Networks
[3]S.M. Chen, P, Lin, D-W Huang, S-R Yang - A study on
distributed/centralized scheduling for wireless mesh network
[4]http://www.wikipedia.org