ISSN: 2277-3754

ISO 9001:2008 Certified International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2012

Survey of Wireless Mesh Network

A.Valarmozhi, M.Subala, V.Muthu Assistant Professors, Department of Information Technology Veltech Hightech Dr.Rangarajan Dr.Sakunthala Engineering College, Avadi.
Abstract ----Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have emerged as a key technology for next-generation wireless networking. Because of their advantages over other wireless networks, WMNs are undergoing rapid progress and inspiring numerous applications. Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) consist of mesh routers and mesh clients, where mesh routers have minimal mobility and form the backbone of WMNs. They provide network access for both mesh and conventional clients. The integration of WMNs with other networks such as the Internet, cellular, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, IEEE 802.16, sensor networks, etc., can be accomplished through the gateway and bridging functions in the mesh routers WMNs will deliver wireless services for a large variety of applications in personal, local, campus, and metropolitan areas. However, many technical issues still exist in this field. In order to provide a better understanding of the research challenges of WMNs, this article presents a detailed investigation of current state-of-the-art protocols and algorithms for WMNs. Open research issues in all protocol layers are also discussed, with an objective to spark new research interests in this field. Index Terms Wireless Mesh Network, Mesh Client, Mesh Router.

I. INTRODUCTION Wireless networks go forward into the next generation to provide better services, in which wireless mesh networks (WMNs), has emerged recently. There are currently two form of wireless networks. The first is known as the infrastructured network. It is a network which has fixed and wired gateways. The bridges for these networks are known as base stations. Typical applications of this type of networks include office wireless local area networks (WLANs). The second type is infrastructure less and these types of networks are known as self-organized networks. They consist of mobile radio nodes which do not need existing network infrastructure or central system management. They are suitable for situations that need an immediate infrastructure. In contrast to traditional wireless networks, WMNs are not built on a fixed infrastructure. Instead of this, hosts rely on each other to keep the connection. WMNs provide low-cost broadband internet access, wireless LAN coverage and network connection to fixed or mobile hosts for both network operators and users. The reason of preferring WMNs is easy, fast and deployment of the technology. In WMNs, nodes are comprised of mesh routers and mesh clients. 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 range of their destinations. Conventional nodes (e.g., desktops, laptops, PDAs,

PocketPCs, phones, etc.) equipped with wireless network interface cards (NICs) can connect directly to wireless mesh routers. Customers without wireless NICs can access WMNs by connecting to wireless mesh routers through, for example, Ethernet. Thus, WMNs will greatly help the users to be always-on-line anywhere anytime. Moreover, the gateway/bridge functionalities in mesh routers enable the integration of WMNs with various existing wireless networks such as cellular, wireless sensor, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), worldwide inter-operability for microwave Access (WiMAX), WiMedia networks. WMNs are undergoing rapid commercialization in many other application sectors such as broadband home networking, community networking, building automation, high speed metropolitan area networks, and enterprise networking. With the capability of self-organization and self configuration, WMNs can be deployed incrementally, one node at a time, as needed. As more nodes are installed, the reliability and connectivity for the users increase accordingly. Nowadays, several companies have already realized the potential of this technology and offer wireless mesh networking products. A few test beds have been established in university research labs. However, for a WMN to be all it can be, considerable research efforts are still needed. For example, the available MAC and routing protocols are not scalable; throughput drops significantly as the number of nodes or hops in WMNs increases. In this article we present a survey of recent advances in protocols and algorithms for WMNs. Our aim is to provide a better understanding of research challenges of this emerging technology. The rest of this article is organized as follows. The network architectures of WMNs are first presented, with an objective to highlight the characteristics of WMNs and the critical factors influencing protocol design. II. WIRELESS MESH NETWORK ARCHITECTURE Wireless interfaces built on either the same or different wireless access technologies. Compared with a conventional wireless router, a wireless mesh router can achieve the same coverage with much lower transmission power through multi-hop communications. Optionally, the medium access control (MAC) protocol in a mesh router is enhanced with better scalability in a multi-hop mesh environment. The architecture of WMNs can be classified into three main groups based on the functionality of the nodes [1]: A. Infrastructure/Backbone WMNs This type of WMNs includes mesh routers forming an

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ISO 9001:2008 Certified International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2012 infrastructure for clients that connect to them. The WMN network through mesh routers as well as directly meshing with infrastructure/ backbone can be built using various types of other mesh clients. While the infrastructure provides radio technologies, in addition to the mostly used IEEE connectivity to other networks such as the Internet, Wi-Fi, 802.11 technologies. The architecture is shown in Fig 1, WiMAX, cellular, and sensor networks; the routing where dash and solid lines indicate wireless and wired links, capabilities of clients provide improved connectivity and respectively. The mesh routers form a mesh of coverage inside the WMN. The hybrid architecture will be the self-configuring, self-healing links among themselves. With most applicable case in the near future. The hybrid gateway functionality, mesh routers can be connected to the architecture is shown in fig 3. Internet. This approach, also referred to as infrastructure meshing, provides backbone for conventional clients and enables integration of WMNs with existing wireless networks, through gateway/bridge functionalities in mesh routers

Fig.3. Hybrid WMNs Fig.1. Infrastructure/Backbone WMNs

B. Client WMNs Client meshing provides peer-to peer networks among client devices. In this type of architecture, client nodes constitute the actual network to perform routing and configuration functionalities as well as providing end user applications to customers. Hence, a mesh router is not required for these types of networks. In this case, highest level of data transmission occurs. A packet is sent to reach a destination through multi nodes. All traffic crosses over single nodes in the network. Moreover, the requirements on end-user devices is increased when compared to infrastructure meshing, since, in Client WMNs, the end-users must perform additional functions such as routing and self-configuration .The Client WMNs architechtecture is shown in fig 2.

Fig.2.Client WMNs

C. Hybrid WMNs The combination of infrastructure and client meshing is referred as Hybrid WMNs.Mesh clients can access the

D. Characteristic of WMNs: The main goal of WMNs is to increase the coverage range of current wireless network in order to solve Line-of-Sight (LoS) problem especially on central wireless networks the WMNs is designed as a mesh-style multi-hopping which achieves higher Throughput. Addition or subtraction to network can be made easily after network deployment. Network can be enlarged or narrowed. Coverage and interactivity are uncontrolled. WMNs have the functionality of P2P network as well as accessibility to different network environments and technologies smoothly. WMNs do not have energy consumption constraints unlike existing protocols. Energy efficiency is not placed on the top in terms of priority on WMNs. They conform with current wireless network technologies. As WMNs use IEEE 802.11 technology, other communicated networks should predicate this technology on. Ensuring and carriage of functionality are provided with mesh. Accomplishment of these issues includes routing, security, management and power control.

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ISO 9001:2008 Certified International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2012 Nodes are free on their movement. They can E. Security change their networks and move between cells. Although many security schemes have been proposed for Thus, WMNs have a very dynamic structure. wireless LANs in recent years, they are still not fully Wireless operation is necessary for supporting applicable for WMNs. For instance, there is no centralized mobility. So, signals and optical hardware can be trusted authority to distribute a public key in a WMN due to the distributed system architecture. The existing security used to provide wireless operation. All nodes must join a routing process on the schemes proposed for ad hoc networks can be adopted for WMNs. However, most of the security solutions for ad hoc network Therefore, WMNs diversify the capabilities of ad-hoc networks are still not mature enough to be implemented networks instead of simply being another type of ad hoc practically. Moreover, the different network architectures network. These additional capabilities necessitate new between WMNs and ad hoc networks usually render a algorithms and design principles for the realization of WMNs solution for ad hoc networks ineffective in WMNs. III. DESGIN FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PERFORMANCE OF WMNS F. Ease of Use Protocols must be designed to enable the network to be as autonomous as possible. In addition, network management tools need to be developed to efficiently maintain the operation, monitor the performance, and configure the parameters of WMNs. These tools, together with the autonomous mechanisms in networking protocols, enable rapid deployment of WMNs. G. Compatibility and Inter-operability In WMNs it is a default requirement to support network access for both conventional and mesh clients. Therefore, WMNs need to be backward compatible with conventional client nodes. This demands that mesh routers need to be capable of integrating heterogeneous wireless networks. IV. APPLICATIONS OF WMNS A. Broadband Wireless Access Currently, Broadband access has an important role in information economy. It provides services for real time applications such as: video telephony, online-gaming, video on demand, and telecommunications. Each new application has a significant impact on quality of life. For example, Telecommuting can reduce daily traveling of individuals. It leads to increased productivity for the time saving. It also reduces traffic on the streets, thus it has a positive impact on the environment. In urban and sub-urban areas, wired access (Cable and DSL) is the first choice if the population density be reasonably high. Rural areas have limited coverage using wireless technologies like satellite and cellular networks. Satellite access has two drawbacks: expensive technology and high latency due to the distance between the end client and the satellite. In the case of cellular networks the towers are expensive to install and operate. Lack of service providers and the higher cost of the service itself makes lower usage of broadband access. In order to wider adoption of Internet access, WMNs offer an easy-to-deploy and cost effective alternative in areas where cable TV or DSL lines are not available. WMNs can be deployed quickly without expensive equipment and the service provider can see a quick return on investment. Besides, because of the low cost deployment and operations of WMNs, free broadband access to city residents is also become possible. Many such networks already exist,

A. Radio Techniques. Many approaches have been proposed to increase capacity and flexibility of wireless systems in recent years. Typical examples include directional and smart antennas, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems, and multi-radio/multi-channel systems. To further improve the performance of a wireless radio and control by higher layer protocols, more advanced radio technologies, such as reconfigurable radios, frequency agile/cognitive radios, and even software radios, have been used for wireless communication. Although these radio technologies are still in their infancy, they are expected to be the future platform for wireless networks due to their dynamic control capability. These advanced wireless radio technologies all require a revolutionary design in higher-layer protocols, especially MAC and routing protocols. B. Scalability Scalability is a critical requirement of WMNs. Without support of this feature, the network performance degrades significantly as the network size increases. For example, routing protocols may not be able to find a reliable routing path, transport protocols may loose connections, and MAC protocols may experience significant throughput reduction. To ensure the scalability in WMNs, all protocols from the MAC layer to the application layer need to be scalable. C. Mesh Connectivity Many advantages of WMNs originate from mesh connectivity. To ensure reliable mesh connectivity, network self-organization and topology control algorithms are needed. Topology-aware MAC and routing protocols can significantly improve the performance of WMNs. D. Broadband and QoS. Different from classical ad hoc networks, most applications of WMNs are broadband services with heterogeneous QoS requirements. Thus, in addition to end-to-end transmission delay and fairness, more performance metrics, such as delay jitter, aggregate and per-node through-put, and packet loss ratios, must be considered by communication protocols.

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ISO 9001:2008 Certified International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2012 and more are on the way. project progresses. Other temporary venues such as: political rallies, street fairs, and outdoor concerts can set-up and B. Industrial Applications remove wireless mesh networks in minutes. In a building, there are many devices need to be monitored and controlled like electrical devices including power, light, V. CONCLUSION air conditioner, elevator, etc. Today, the wired networks are Although WMNs can be built up based on existing taking care of such environment. This is very expensive due to technologies, field trials and experiments with existing the complexity in deployment and maintenance of a wired WMNs prove that the performance of WMNs is still far below network. Currently, Wi-Fi networks are another option to expectations. As explained throughout this article, there still reduce the cost of such networks. But, this solution has not remain many research problems. Among them, the most achieved satisfactory performance yet for expensive wiring of important and urgent ones are the scalability and the security. Ethernet which is needed for Wi-Fi Access Points (APs). Replacing APs by mesh routers will solve the problem. The A. Scalability deployment process will be much simpler and also the Based on existing MAC, routing, and transport protocols, deployment cost will be significantly reduced. network performance is not scalable with either the number of nodes or the number of hops in the network. This problem can C. Healthcare be alleviated by increasing the network capacity through In a hospital or medical center, monitoring and updating using multiple channels/radios per node or developing patient information like medical history, test results, wireless radios with higher transmission speed. However, insurance information, etc., need to be processed and these approaches do not truly enhance the scalability of transmitted from room to room. The ability to connect to the WMNs, because resource utilization is not actually improved. network is crucial to ensure data access in every operating Therefore, in order to achieve scalability, it is essential to room, office, and lab. In many hospitals data transmission is develop new MAC, routing, and transport protocols for usually broadband due to large amount of data, for instance: WMNs. high resolution medical images and periodical monitoring information. WMN provides unlimited network access to any B. Security fixed medical devices. It does not need to use existed Ethernet WMNs are vulnerable to security attacks in various connections, so that, it will eliminate dead spots and it also protocol layers. Current security approaches may be effective cause low system cost and simplicity which cannot be find in to a particular attack in a specific protocol layer. However, traditional wired networks. there still exists a need for a comprehensive mechanism to prevent or counter attacks in all protocol layers. Moreover, D. Transportation systems self-organization and self-configuration capability is a desired Internet access is limited to stations and stops using IEEE feature in WMNs. It requires protocols in WMNs to be 802.11 and IEEE 802.16. To extend access into buses, plains, distributive and collaborative. However, current WMNs can ferries, and trains, WMN technology can help. Thus, only partially realize this objective. Furthermore, current passengers on-board can access to the net while traveling WMNs still have very limited capabilities of integrating from one place to another. Other services such as remote heterogeneous wireless networks, due to the difficulty in monitoring in-vehicle, driver communications and security building multiple wireless interfaces and the corresponding cameras can be supported too. gateway/bridge functions in the same mesh router. E. Hospitality In spite of these open research problems, we believe that In hotels and resorts, one of their services is high-speed WMNs will be one of the most gifted technologies for next Internet connectivity which is free. Wireless mesh networks generation wireless networking. For any commercial wireless are easy to set-up, lower in cost, and without having to change product, however, security should be one of the first problems the existing structures or disrupt business for both indoor and to be solved. For WMNs, there are several security issues to be considered.Inorder to enhance the WMNs, more research outdoor. is needed in future. F. Warehouses One way to keep track of stock in warehouses is using REFERENCES handheld scanners. It needs connectivity throughout the area. [1] Ian F. Akyildiz , Xudong Wang , Weilin Wang , Wireless mesh networks: a survey, I.F. Akyildiz et al. / Computer Wireless mesh networks can ensure connectivity in modern Networks 47 (2005) 445487. warehouses and shipping logistics with little cost and effort. G. Temporary Venues Construction sites can enjoy the easy set-up and removal of wireless mesh networks. Architects and engineers can stay connected and using camera to communicate and talk to each other on spot. It provides them to see the real picture of the
[2] A.A. Abouzeid, S. Roy, Stochastic modelling of TCP in networks with abrupt delay variations, ACM/Kluwer Wireless Networks 9 (2003) 509524.

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ISO 9001:2008 Certified International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology (IJEIT) Volume 2, Issue 6, December 2012
[3] S. Waharte, B. Ishibashi, R. Boutaba, Performance Study of Wireless Mesh Networks Routing Metrics, Computer Systems and Applications, April, 2008. [4] Safak DURUKAN ODABASI1, A. Halim ZAIM2 A SURVEY on WIRELESS MESH NETWORKS, ROUTING METRICS and PROTOCOLS, International Journal of Electronics, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Vol.2 Num.1 Pp.(92-104). AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ms.A.Valarmozhi received B.E Degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Kamaraj University, Madurai in 2002 and M.E Degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Anna University, Chennai in 2008. Currently she is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Technology, Veltech Hightech Dr.Rangarajan Dr.Sakunthala Engineering College, Avadi. She will do part time research in Wireless Networks at Anna University, Chennai. She has published research paper in peer reviewed Journal. Her current research focuses on Wireless Networks and Adhoc networks. She is a member of IAENG. Mrs.M.Subala received B.Tech Degree in Information Technology from Anna University, Chennai in 2005 and M.E Degree in Networking from Anna University, Chennai in 2007. Currently she is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Technology, Veltech Hightech Dr.Rangarajan Dr.Sakunthala Engineering College, Avadi. She will do part time research in Networks at Anna University, Chennai.

Mr.V.Muthu received B.E Degree in Computer Science & Engineering from M.S University, Tirunelveli in 2001 and M.Tech Degree in Information Technology from Satyabama University, Chennai in 2009. Currently he is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Technology, Veltech Hightech Dr.Rangarajan Dr.Sakunthala Engineering College, Avadi. He will do part time research in Data mining at Anna University, Chennai.

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