What is Mesh Technology? What are the advantages of mesh networking?

Since its birth in the 1960s, network technology has developed extremely rapidly. The star structure, ring structure, bus structure, distributed structure, tree structure, etc. of traditional local area networks have played a role in various fields, providing stable network connections and large amounts of data traffic for billions of people around the world.

However, there is a LAN technology that was born very early, but due to its complex structure, it has not been taken seriously. However, with the development of wireless network technology, its advantages have been re-emphasized. This network is Mesh network, that is, mesh network structure.

Today, we will introduce to you in detail what kind of technology Mesh network is.

Before talking about the Mesh network structure, it is necessary to talk about the traditional LAN structure that has faced bottlenecks.

Basic network topology

The basic structures of local area networks include star structure, ring structure, bus structure, distributed structure, tree structure, etc.

The most common and widely used star structure is to use the central node as the core, and other nodes are connected to the central node. This structure has higher costs and lower reliability, but it has low latency, simple structure and is easy to manage.

In a bus-type structure, all network devices are connected to a bus with no obvious center. Its advantages are simple structure and good scalability, but its disadvantages are also obvious, such as difficult maintenance and difficult fault finding in a branch structure.

In order to be safer and more efficient in use, most of the commercial LANs currently in operation use a combination of multiple network topology modes to maximize the performance of the LAN and avoid obstacles.

For ordinary users, we generally don’t care about how the operator’s computer room should be arranged. The local area network that we can most directly contact is the network layout of the home, unit or even the community.

At present, the typical LAN layout adopts a star structure or a multi-layer star structure. The network is connected through the main router, then distributed to each sub-router, and finally connected to different hosts and devices. This kind of wiring is relatively simple to implement and requires fewer cables.

This layout method and layout concept spans the wired and wireless eras. For example, at home, users will access the Internet from Internet service providers such as China Telecom and China Unicom, and then use wireless routers to transfer multiple signals or wireless signals for use by multiple wired and wireless devices in the home. This is also a typical star structure.

Star topology

The development of LAN topologies such as star and bus structures has brought about a huge explosion in the Internet, but its inherent defects have been unavoidable, such as the security and reliability of data centers, and the difficulty of maintaining bus-type layouts. Although technicians have strengthened the traditional LAN structure through various means and even used composite topologies, people's experience is still difficult to guarantee because the inherent problems have not been solved.

In order to break through the bottleneck of the traditional LAN structure, in recent years, a network topology that is not new but has not been taken seriously due to technical limitations has come to the fore, that is, Mesh - a mesh network structure.

Typical Mesh Structure

Speaking of the word Mesh, its English meaning is very simple, which is a net, a grid, or a mesh. From its basic definition, the topology of a mesh network is that all nodes in the network are connected to each other, and each node is connected to at least two other nodes, forming an integrated network between all nodes.

In the wired era, it was very difficult to implement a Mesh network due to the existence of network cables. However, in the wireless era, the layout of a wireless Mesh network is relatively easy due to the absence of network cables and the application of various new technologies.

From the perspective of network topology, wireless mesh networks have the following characteristics:

• Node interconnection: All nodes in the LAN are connected together, and there are multiple connection channels between any two nodes, showing an obvious decentralization trend. It consists of a group of wireless APs distributed in a mesh, and the APs are interconnected through wireless relay links in a point-to-point manner, expanding the wireless "hotspots" in traditional WLANs into wireless "hot zones" with real large-area coverage.
• Self-configuration: APs in wireless mesh networks have automatic configuration and centralized management capabilities, simplifying network management and maintenance.
• Self-healing: APs in wireless mesh networks have the ability to automatically discover and route connections in winter, eliminating the impact of single point failures on services and providing redundant paths.
• High bandwidth: Expand the traditional WLAN "hotspot" coverage to a larger "hot zone" coverage, eliminating the original WLAN bandwidth drop caused by the increase in distance. In addition, the system adopts a Mesh structure, the signal can avoid the interference of obstacles, so that the signal transmission is unimpeded and the blind spots are eliminated.
• High utilization: High utilization is another technical advantage of Mesh network. In a single-hop network, a fixed AP is shared by multiple devices. As the number of network devices increases, the communication network availability of the AP will drop significantly. In a Mesh network, since each node is an AP, such a problem will not occur at all. Once the availability of an AP drops, the data will automatically reselect an AP for transmission.
• Compatibility: Mesh adopts the standard 802.11b/g/n/ac standard and is widely compatible with wireless client terminals.

From the application perspective, the advantages of wireless mesh networks are also very obvious:

(1) Fast deployment and easy installation

Wireless Mesh networks are fast to deploy and easy to install. Since data is transmitted wirelessly, users only need to take the device out of the box, connect it to a power source, and then enter the configuration page.

This is because in a wireless mesh network, except for a small number of node devices that need to be connected to an AP via a network cable, most devices only need a power cable, and do not need to be connected to an AP via a network cable. All data is transmitted wirelessly. This not only greatly saves the connection speed, but also reduces the difficulty of wired layout, which is very convenient.

Wireless data transmission between nodes

(2) Wireless Mesh Networks are Robust

We know that in common LANs, all data is connected to a single AP for transmission and reception. In a LAN, if there is a central AP, since there is only one path for data transmission, it is easy to cause data congestion or failure in actual use (such as AP disconnection or device damage, etc.).

However, in a wireless mesh network, due to its multi-hop network characteristics, a node can connect to at least two other nodes. When a node is blocked or unresponsive, the wireless mesh network can select other nodes for data transmission according to the situation.

In other words, the wireless mesh network has at least one backup path, so the reliability of data transmission is very high.

(3) Realize non-line-of-sight transmission

Another feature of wireless mesh network is that it can provide non-line-of-sight transmission. The so-called non-line-of-sight transmission refers to providing transmission function in areas outside the coverage range of the original signal. This is also easy to understand, because each node has the characteristics of receiving and sending at the same time, which is equivalent to expanding the coverage of the network to a certain extent.

For example, a traditional network has only one data sending node, which is the central node connected to the AP. Within the coverage range of the central node, data sending and transmission are effective, but they become invalid when the distance becomes longer.

In a wireless mesh network, each node is equivalent to a repeater, which expands the scope of data coverage and can provide network for users outside the line of sight of the node connected to the AP, greatly improving the application field and coverage of the wireless network.

(4) Flexible structure

In fact, the flexibility of the structure is related to robustness, that is, there is no data congestion or node failure. When data needs to be transmitted between two nodes in a wireless mesh network, the nodes can automatically select the forwarding path with the fastest response time and the highest transmission speed based on the connection and response conditions, thus avoiding node communication congestion.

Even for some nodes with extremely high permissions, multiple nodes can be selected at the same time to transmit data to multiple targets concurrently, which greatly saves data transmission time and improves efficiency.

(5) High bandwidth and high transmission efficiency

Bandwidth is always a difficult problem to solve. Due to the characteristics of wireless communication, bandwidth can only be increased when the transmission distance is short. However, the data transmission distance is closely related to the signal strength, and the coverage area of ​​the traditional single-center method is limited.

Due to the non-line-of-sight transmission characteristics of wireless mesh networks, signal coverage is better and stronger, making it easier to increase the total bandwidth. In addition, due to the role of node relays, wireless mesh networks have excellent signal coverage, so the power required for transmission is reduced, which is also helpful for energy saving.

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(6) Wireless Mesh Networks Significantly Improve Signal Coverage

From the above introduction, it is not difficult to see that the advantages of wireless mesh network are very prominent. It can solve the problems of the common star-structured LAN and bus-structured LAN, and can also expand more functions involving security, stability and high bandwidth. If it can be applied to new wireless network products, it is expected to lead the further development of network technology and achieve higher transmission speed and wider signal coverage.

Wireless Mesh Network is better than the wireless technology we are using now, both in terms of technology and principle. In terms of key indicators such as coverage area and performance, Wireless Mesh Network relies on its inherent structural advantages to bring excellent network coverage, and its development prospects are widely optimistic!