Notes on Implementing a IEEE 802.11s Mesh Point

Abstract

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are gaining wide popularity as a flexible and cost-effective access technology. Many vendors and network operators have already deployed their own proprietary solutions, and, in the meantime, the IEEE has set off Task Group 802.11s (TGs) to develop a common standard for WMNs. So far, however, TGs has not yet produced a final document and is still working on the draft. In this context, we have built a prototype mesh node as much compliant as possible with the (still unofficial) 802.11s draft. A software framework was developed using common off-the-shelf technology and deployed on top of the legacy 802.11 interface card. We believe that the availability of such a prototype will permit to readily test the features and the amendments to the draft as soon as they are proposed, thus returning immediate and significant feedbacks on their effectiveness. This is an important milestone, as simulation trials, though very useful, often do not give answers on the actual feasibility of the tested feature. And, in fact, the prototype already allowed us to experimentally evaluate the basic 802.11s characteristics, pointing out some shortcomings and suggesting possible improvements.