wireless ad hoc networking

440 Wireless Ad Hoc Networking
Internet
PCS network
Internet gateway
T1
DSL
GPRS
gw
Internet gateway
Wireless mesh network
Desktop
Mesh router
Mesh router
gw
Mesh router
gw
Internet gateway
Mesh router
Access point
Switch
Laptop
Printer
Server
Access point
Desktop
WiFi phone
PDA
Laptop
PDA
WiFi phone
Figure 17.1
The generic WMN architecture.
A WMN consists of multiple mesh routers (or simply called nodes), which
can forward packets on behalf of other mesh routers through wireless
communication. To further improve the performance, a mesh router may
be equipped with more than one radio interface. Mesh routers that are
connected to the Internet are called Internet gateways (or simply called
gateways). Mesh routers usually have minimal mobility and are usually
fixed, such as being deployed on roofs or streetlight poles. Like any access
point, a mesh router can serve local mobile stations in its area. The stations
may be desktop/laptop PCs, PDAs, WiFi phones, etc. The mesh routers
wirelessly relay packets of stations to other routers until they reach a gateway
that connects to the Internet. More generally, instead of serving as a