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Wireless radio configurations

Wireless radio configurations

Several approaches may be taken in designing a wireless mesh network:

1. Single-radio

Single-radio - one could use a single wireless interface to provide both access to the client devices (computers, smartphones, sensors, ...) and to provide the backhaul services (the mesh nodes talking to each other). Using this configuration forces everybody in the network to talk on the same frequency, and will prove to be a severely limiting factor in the topology and performance of the network.

2. Dual-radio

Dual-radio - as a step up from the single-radio configuration, two radios could be used, where one is in charge of providing network access to the clients, and the other is providing the wireless backhaul. While this is certainly an improvement over the first case, all of the interfaces across the nodes that are providing the mesh connectivity will again be forced to remain on the same physical frequency. Occupation of this frequency space degrades the network throughput, as only one radio may transmit at any given time within its range.

3. Multi-radio

Multi-radio - by introducing multiple radios to the mesh node architecture, neighboring mesh nodes talk on their own dedicated frequency bands, and can transfer different messages to different neighboring nodes simultaneously. This approach maximizes the available bandwidth and therefore performance.