Communications Connection

Wireless Mesh Technology - What is it?

Posted by Amy Cavaliere on Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 11:04 AM

There has been a lot of talk lately about wireless mesh technologies.  Because of this, there is a tremendous amount of information available for it, enough to confuse even the best of us.   I have been reading up about it (I figured as the marketing person I should since we sell it and I wanted to learn about it without having to ask my tech support and sales guys) and finally have it broken down to what I consider to be understandable terms (coming from a non technical perspective that's asking a lot). 

According to whatis.com "a mesh network is a local area network (LAN) that employs one of two connection arrangements, full mesh topology or partial mesh topology. In the full mesh topology, each node (workstation or other device) is connected directly to each of the others. In the partial mesh topology, some nodes are connected to all the others, but some of the nodes are connected only to those other nodes with which they exchange the most data. " 

Ok so now I had the definition but what exactly does it do?  So I kept digging and I came across this great article that really breaks mesh down and explains it in laymans terms so I thought I would share. 

Howstuffworks.com explains that "Wireless mesh networks can easily, effectively and wirelessly connect entire cities using inexpensive, existing technology. Traditional networks rely on a small number of wired access points or wireless hotspots to connect users. 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."  The article has plenty more information so check it out and drop a comment to let me know what you think about mesh.

how-wireless-mesh-networks-work1.htm#

 

Topics: nodes, wireless mesh technology, wireless definition