Unstrung reports that progress on the new IEEE standard for mesh networking — dubbed IEEE 802.11s — is now well underway.
Wireless LAN Standards
802.11 The original WLAN Standard. Supports 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps. 802.11a High speed WLAN standard for 5 GHz band. Supports 54 Mbps. 802.11b WLAN standard for 2.4 GHz band. Supports 11 Mbps. 802.11d International roaming automatically configures devices to meet local RF regulations 802.11e Addresses quality of service requirements for all IEEE WLAN radio interfaces. 802.11f Defines inter-access point communications to facilitate multiple vendor-distributed WLAN networks. 802.11g Establishes an additional modulation technique for 2.4 GHz band. Supports speeds up to 54 Mbps. 802.11h Defines the spectrum management of the 5 GHz band. 802.11i Addresses the current security weaknesses for both authentication and encryption protocols. The standard encompasses 802.1X, TKIP, and AES protocols. 802.11n Provides higher throughput improvements. Intended to provide speeds up to 500 Mbps. A call for proposals was issued in January 2005, and by the March 2005 deadline, 34 individuals registered their intent to make a partial or full proposal to the [802.11s] Task Group, writes report author, Gabriel Brown.
To date, most wireless mesh systems from the likes of PacketHop, Strix Systems Inc., and Tropos Networks have been based on proprietary mesh routing protocols. Donald Eastlake, chair of the 802.11s Task Group, is quoted in the report as stating that the group s aim is to develop a standard wireless distribution system that operates between 802.11 access points and works with stations that don t know anything about mesh.
Initial voting on the standard is tipped to begin in July this year, with a first draft of the standard expected in March 2006. After a review process, the standard will go through the formal IEEE proceedings and could be ratified in early 2008.
Once ratified, Brown says, the 802.11s standard is likely to target the SOHO (small office, home office) mesh market. Although none of the proposals have yet been made public, sources interviewed say it is very likely that 802.11s will be oriented towards residential and small-office networks. This is because the Task Group membership is weighted towards chipset vendors, whose largest end market is the consumer.
Intel calls it’s proposal Mesh Portals. It would be able to connect a mesh network to a non-mesh network. Intel reportedly aims to complete the proposal by the end of the year.
Although mesh networks are already in use for very large deployments in cities such as Taipei, and in some industry sectors, none of the systems interoperate or are suitable for domestic or office environments, says Intel’s Steven Conner.
Intel’s proposals are reportedly compatible with 802.11a/b/g and with 802.11i security. They add functions for allowing wireless nodes to locate each other, authenticate, and establish connections, and establish the most efficient route for a particular task. W. Steven Conner, wireless network architect at Intel and technical editor of the IEEE’s 802.11s task group, says that a broadband video stream, for example, may take a different route across a home environment than a Web connection in order to achieve higher bandwidth
The standardisation process is expected to produce a firm proposal towards the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007, with ratification following a year later.
Most “wireless mesh router” systems today use multiple 802.11 radios, coupled with essential QOS, fast-handoff, and security features.
DailyWireless has more on Taipei’s Mesh Cloud, Scaling City-wide Mesh, Mesh Projects & Gear, MetroFi Goes Long, Mesh: Baton Rouge Et Al Citywide Mesh, Mesh Goes Downtown, Aiirnet & Telerama, Strix and Air Magnet, San Jose Free Cloud, Meshing at Intel, Meshed Roofnets, Mesh ISP, and City Mesh and Intel’s 802.11s for Home Mesh.
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