Every node not only captures and disseminates its own data, it also serves as a relay for the other nodes. Mesh networking is a type of networking that needs collaboration for propagation.
A mesh network is designed using either, a flooding technique or a routing technique. The latter is when the message propagates along a path by hopping from one node to another until the destination is reached. And to make sure that all of the paths are available, a routing network using self-healing algorithms should allow continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths. This self-healing capability enables a routing based network to operate when one node breaks down or gets disrupted. As a result, the network is usually reliable since there is often more than one path between a source and a destination in the network.
The self-healing capability concept can also be used to wired networks and software interaction, although it is usually for wireless scenarios. Wireless mesh networks were originally developed for military applications and usually of mesh architectures. However, on the next years after that, the size, cost and power requirements of radios declined causing more radios top be included within each device acting as a mesh node. The additional radios then within each node enable it to support multiple functions, like access, backhaul service, and scanning which requires a high speed handover in mobile applications.
Additionally, the reduction in radio, size, cost and power enabled the mesh nodes to be more modular. One node or device can now contain multiple radio cards or modules, allowing the nodes to be customized to handle a unique set of functions and frequency bands.
Work in this field has been relieved by the use of game theory methods to analyze strategies for the allocation of resources and routing of packets. Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others.
Mesh networks can also be seen as a kind of ad hoc network, -for this purpose,- a self-configuring infrastructure-less network of mobile devices connected by wireless links. This and mesh networks are therefore closely related, although MANET also has to deal with the problems brought by the mobility of the nodes.
A mesh network having nodes connected to each other is a fully-connected network. In early 2007, the US-based firm Meraki launched a mini wireless mesh router, an example of a wireless mesh network on a claimed speed of up to 50 megabits per second. The 802.11 radio within the Meraki Mini has been optimized for long-distance communication, providing coverage of over 250 m, an example of a single-radio mesh network being used within a community as opposed to multi-radio long range mesh networks like BelAir or MeshDynamics that provide multifunctional infrastructure.