Metro-Scale Mesh Networking Players

Introduction

Hybrid mesh network is commercially deployed in a few places

Players– Tropos – Firetide – BelAir– Pronto– NeoReach, etc.

Tropos Networks(All case-studies and whitepapaers are in public domainhttp://www.tropos.com/technology/whitepapers.html)

CA-based network company – http://tropos.com/

Deployed hybrid mesh architecture in a few places like Chaska, MN

Patent on: – MetroMesh: a hybrid mesh network architecture

(pending)– Predictive Wireless Routing Protocol (PWRP): a

routing protocol specific for MetroMesh

Tropos Networks: Problem addressed(Whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/tropos_metro-scale.pdf)

Cellular: limited capacity, not suitable for data

Wi-Fi:– Limited reach– Too costly, if we connect each Wi-Fi hot spot to

wired backhaul

MetroMesh: Cellular + Wi-Fi

MetroMesh: Problem addressed(Whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/tropos_metro-scale.pdf)

Advantages of MetroMesh over traditional mesh

– Eliminating wired backhaul to every router– Self-organization of routes if additional routers are

added or some routers fail (PWRP routing software running at each router will adjust routes dynamically)

– Less overhead (in terms of keeping link-state and node information), so scales well with nodes

– Uses only single radio (running at 2.4 GHz) at each router (in contrast to multiple radio in many traditional mesh network)

– Suitable for metro network (with 100s of nodes)

MetroMesh: Current architecture(Ref: http://www.tropos.com/products/architecture.html and whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/five_keys.pdf)

MetroMesh: Current architecture(Whitepapers: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/metromesh_datasheet.pdf and http://www.tropos.com/pdf/tropos_metro-scale.pdf)

Deployed wireless routers (Wi-Fi) to form a mesh

A few of these Wi-Fi routers are identified as “Gateways”

Gateways are connected to wired infrastructure (Base Stations of cellular infrastructure to IP backbone)

Each Wi-Fi routers operate on 2.4 GHz (so compatible with 802.11b/g) with omni-directional antenna

Future architecture: WiMax as backhaul(Whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/wimax_integration.pdf)

Future architecture: WiMax as gateway(Whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/wimax_integration.pdf)

Future architecture: WiMax as routers (Whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/wimax_integration.pdf)

Future architecture: Wi-Fi to WiMax(Whitepapers: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/chaska_performance.pdf and http://www.tropos.com/pdf/wimax_integration.pdf)

Phase-1 plan: Instead connecting Wi-Fi gateways to wired backbone directly, connect Wi-Fi gateways to WiMax

– WiMax will connect to wired IP backbone

Phase-2 plan: Wi-max could also be used for gateways

– Helps Intra mesh routing

Phase-3 plan: Wi-max as routers– Could connect hosts/clients directly

Future architecture: Wi-Fi to WiMax(Whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/wimax_integration.pdf)

Advantages of WiMax– Will extend reach– High bit rate

Disadvantages of WiMax– Only line of sight communication

Tropos future architecture plan is a hybrid mesh between Wi-Fi and WiMax radios

– LOS: Deploy WiMax– NLOS: Deploy Wi-Fi

Routing Algorithm(Ref: http://www.tropos.com/products/metromesh_os.html and whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/Routing_Capacity.pdf)

Predictive Wireless Routing Protocol (PWRP) PWRP software runs at each router and

gateway Basic idea:

– Takes measurement samples of link rates multiple times a second across wireless links

– Given a source-destination pairs, algorithm computes available paths

– Based on history of samples, dynamically predicts link condition and then estimates throughput of each alternate path

– Choose path with highest estimated throughput

Routing Algorithm(whitepaper: http://www.tropos.com/pdf/Routing_Capacity.pdf)

Advantages of PWRP– Maximize throughput– Ensure that hosts are typically 2-3 hops away from

internet connection by deploying sufficient number of routers

– Less protocol overhead – Self-healing mechanism: If a router is down or link is

broken, PWRP software will compute other available paths

Tropos Network(Ref: http://www.tropos.com/products/metromesh_routers.html and Datasheets)

Product– Tropos 5210 MetroMesh outdoor router– Tropos 3210 MetroMesh indoor router

Problem of MetroMesh– Infrastructure cost vs. speed of network: They need

twenty 802.11g routers per sq-miles to serve 300-500 residential customers (in a city of 100 sq-miles, they need 2000 routers, each costs US$ 3400, total of US$68,000) with concurrent subscriber capacity of 10 Mbps and bandwidth per subscriber 30 Kbps.

Tropos Network

Problem of MetroMesh– Delay is not bounded: Focus is to choose path to

maximize throughput; may end up with longer path; may not suitable for time-critical application

– Uses omni-directional antenna: Creates multiple unnecessary paths; so, processing overhead will be long; Also antenna range is less; so need more routers. Directional antenna could save processing overhead and reduce number of routers.

– Interference: Dense router deployment will cause more interference and noise. How to take care of that?

Firetide (Whitepapers are not in public domain, request to sales@firetide.com)

CA-based network company – http://www.firetide.com/

Deployed hybrid mesh architecture in a few places like Gordes, France

Product: – HotPort indoor and outdoor mesh routers– HotView mesh management software

Firetide: Problem addressed (Ref: http://www.firetide.com/index.cfm?parent=products)

Built municipal mesh network, public security network, and healthcare network

Claimed to be “self-configuring” and “self-healing” unlike traditional mesh network

Three levels of CoS to prioritize traffic to improve mesh performance, especially in "triple play" data, voice and video applications

One could manage his own virtual network and still be able to connect to mesh for carrying traffic; good for police, public safety department etc.

Firetide: Current intra-mesh architecture (Whitepaper: Designing a Firetide Instant Mesh Network)

Firetide: Current inter-mesh architecture (Datasheets: http://www.firetide.com/index.cfm?section=products165 )

Firetide: Current architecture (Ref: http://www.firetide.com/index.cfm?section=instant_networks229 and whitepaper:http://www.firetide.com/images/User_FilesImages/documents/Hotport/HotPort_3200_Outdoor_Mesh_Node_a308.pdf)

Firetide mesh is a combination of indoor and outdoor wireless routers

A few of them connect to either wired internet backbone or to Wi-Fi AP (which then connects to multiple hosts).

Two edge routers could connect to one-another for inter-mesh communication, known as MeshBridge

MeshBridge feature enables internetworking among multiple HotPort mesh networks to form a single LAN or WAN environment with up to 1,000 mesh nodes, enhancing throughput and simplifying management of large-scale networks  

Firetide: Current architecture(Whitepaper: Designing a Firetide Instant Mesh Network)

Unlike Tropos router, HotPorts are having two different radios,

– 2.4 GHz (for 802.11b/g operation) – 5 GHz (for 802.11a)

Omni-directional Hand optimized trial-and-error router

deployment “Dense” deployment is recommended

– To increase capacity of network– To increase path redundancy

Firetide: Routing algorithm (Ref: TBRPF paper by Ogier, Templin, and Lewis, IETF, Feb., 2004)

Uses Topology Dissemination Based on Reverse-Path Forwarding (TBRPF) routing protocols

Consists of two modules– neighbor discovery module– routing module

Proactive link-state routing protocol– hop-by-hop routing– source trees for shortest path information

Periodic and differential updates

Firetide: Disadvantage

Routers are placed by hand-optimization to reduce “dead zones”

How many routers are sufficient? – “dense” deployment

Need power supply at each of them

BelAir Networks (Whitepapers are not in public domain, request to info@belairnetworks.com)

Canada-based network company – http://www.belairnetworks.com/

Deployed wireless metro-scale mesh network in a few places like Galt, CA and Bristol, UK

Patent on: – Multiple Point-to-Point WLAN Mesh (pending) – BelAir BelView network management software

Product:– BelAir50c: Mesh cluster nodes– BelAir100: Mesh edge nodes– BelAir200: Mesh Multi-service HotZone routers

BelAir: Multiple Point-to-Point Architecture

BelAir Networks (Ref: http://www.belairnetworks.com/resources/pdfs/BDMA20010-C01_BelAir200%2022%208%2005.pdf)

BelAir mesh architecture has 3 parts Mesh core

– Consists of BelAir200 point-to-point routers– Four radio multi-service routers – Less channel contentions at the backend as multiple

radios could use different frequency bands– Integrates Wi-Fi access and wireless backhaul– One of the router will act as a gateway and will

connect to wired backbone– Future architecture will deploy WiMax in core

BelAir Networks (Ref: http://www.belairnetworks.com/resources/pdfs/BDMA10010-B01_BelAir100%2022%208%2005.pdf)

BelAir mesh architecture has 3 parts Edge routers

– Consists of BelAir100 point-to-point nodes– Two radio nodes:

one works at 2.4 GHz and connects to different wireless clusters

other works at 5GHz and connects to core mesh

– Helps data transfers between different clusters (of BelAir50c) and core mesh (BelAir200)

BelAir Networks (Whitepapers: Forward-Compatible_Network_Management_10.13.03.pdf, Wireless_Without_Limits_11.12.03.pdf, and BDMA05010-A01_BelAir50c_09_14_05.pdf)

BelAir mesh architecture has 3 parts Mesh clusters

– Consists of BelAir50c routers– Single radio routers, uses 2.4 Ghz band– Two omni-directional antenna

One for wireless access to clients Other for multipoint-to-multipoint connectivity to

neighboring BelAir nodes– Helps data transfer from a client to mesh– All BelAir routers are centrally managed by BelAir

BelView Network Management System (NMS), an Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) software package

BelAir Architecture: Problem addressed (Whitepaper: Beyond_The_Hot_Spot_10.09.03.pdf)

Previous WLAN solutions have many disadvantages:

– Pure Wired Networking Need 24-port switch to connect each AP to wired

backbone Complex and costly

– Point-to-Point Less redundancy, so lower availability To increase availability, need to deploy second

network for redundancy, but doubles setup cost

BelAir Architecture: Problem addressed (Whitepaper: Beyond_The_Hot_Spot_10.09.03.pdf)

Previous WLAN solutions have many disadvantages:

– Point-to-Multipoint Most popular, but low throughput Doesn’t scale well Less reach and vulnerable to single point failure

– Multipoint-to-Multipoint Many-to-many configuration, where each node can talk

to several neighborhood nodes Collision-prone, effective throughput less Increased power consumption, more cost Interference

BelAir: Routing Protocol (Ref: http://www.cwti.us/brochure/CWTI-Technology_BelAir-200.pdf)

Each BelAir200 executes Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol

BelAir’s Multiple Point-to-Point (Ref: http://www.belairnetworks.com/resources/pdfs/BDMB00020-B01_Cellular_LAN_Background.pdf)

NeoReach

AZ-based company– A MobilePro subsidiary– http://www.neoreach.com/

Works as a mesh networking companies like Tropos, Firetide and BelAir

Deploys metro-scale mesh networks in Tempe, AZ (WAZTempe)

NeoReach’s WAZTempe Network (Ref: http://www.waztempe.com/)

A 5-phase project to cover Tempe city in a wireless mesh network

WAZTempe is a metro-scale, outdoor WiFi mesh network hoping to deliver 95% coverage to the city

No whitepaper exists in public domain

NeoReach’s WAZTempe Network (Ref: http://www.techworld.com/mobility/features/index.cfm?featureid=2314)

Supports all mobile municipal personnel (police, fire and water department workers and building inspectors) with broadband

In first phase, 400 APs are deployed to form mesh

Out of these, 6 are 802.11a WiFi Gateways, connected to OC-3 ingress port

APs could have single or multiple radios

NeoReach’s WAZTempe Network (Ref: http://www.techworld.com/mobility/features/index.cfm?featureid=2314)

Future network:– Integrate WAZTempe WiFi with WiMax– WiMax will eventually be used to connect pockets

of dense populations at outer edges of mesh– Uses Strix System’s Access/One OWS routers

that support 802.11a/g with multiple radios

Pronto Networks (All documents are online)

CA-based company– http://www.prontonetworks.com/

Works as an Operation Support Subsystem (OSS) for mesh networking companies, viz., Tropos, Firetide, NeoReach

Helps as OSS in Tropos’ Chaska Net and NeoReach’s WazTempe

Pronto: Architecture (Ref: http://prontonetworks.com/Muni.pdf and http://prontonetworks.com/ChaskaCaseStudy.pdf )

Pronto: Architecture (Ref: http://prontonetworks.com/ChaskaCaseStudy.pdf)

Pronto Hotzone Gateway – A access gateway between wireless mesh and IP

backbone– Keeps track of user authentication, authorization,

accounting, and IP routing Pronto UniFi OSS management software

– Back office processor– Helps rapidly deploy municipal network as

separate a Virtual Network

Pronto: UniFi OSS (Ref: http://prontonetworks.com/unificonvergedservicessuite.html)

OSS– One of the three radio subsystems (other two are

BSS and NSS)– Keeps pre-paid and post-paid billing information– Manages and troubleshoots overall network

operations and equipments in network– Supports 2000 concurrent users

OSS could support single or multiple mesh networks

Other Players

Strix System– http://www.strixsystems.com/

Proxim Wireless– http://www.proxim.com/

Ricochet Networks– http://www.ricochet.com/

And many more …