Mesh

Mesh Goes Software Defined

Posted by samc on July 24th, 2007

Motorola today announced two additional radio configurations for their MOTOMESH product series of municipal wireless networks. Motorola now offers 2.4/5.4GHz and 2.4/4.9GHz versions of its MOTOMESH Duo, to expand its two radio meshed WiFi product, currently available in 2.4/5.8GHz configuration.

The 5.4GHz model addresses the needs of international customers while the 4.9GHz model introduces secure and dedicated mesh networking at a price public safety departments can appreciate. “We’ve offered 4.9GHz systems in the past—full-featured, four-radio MOTOMESH systems that are metro-solutions-in-a-box.

MOTOMESH Duo, formerly named HotZone Duo,features a small form factor, customization and spectrum flexibility. Offering 4.9 in a Duo solution—with dual meshing capabilities—is an advantage that nobody else has,” said Chip Yager, Director of Operations, Motorola Mesh Networking.

Each 2.4/4.9GHz MOTOMESH Duo unit comes with two, single-radio mesh devices that provide both access and backhaul capabilities. Spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band can be dedicated to public safety access and backhaul using one radio, while public access and backhaul are provided by the second, 2.4 GHz radio. Additionally, Motorola’s dual band 2.4 GHz/4.9 GHz PCMCIA card delivers the capabilities of private, dedicated 4.9 GHz spectrum and designated 2.4 GHz spectrum for public access — all in a single client access card.

Motorola’s MOTOMESH product series includes MOTOMESH Solo a single radio meshed network with Mobility Enabled Access, MOTOMESH Duo, a two radio meshed network and MOTOMESH Quattro, a four radio meshed network with Mobility Enabled Access.

The IEEE is creating a new standard for meshing WiFi systems, known as 802.11s to define common features and ensure interoperability between different mesh vendors. Motorola says their MOTOMESH Duo networks are designed to support the final 802.11s standard via a simple Over-the-Air firmware update.

In other mesh news, startup MeshLinx, today announced that Richardson, Texas will deploy software configurable, mesh radios to provide WiFi service for the entire city.

Richardson will receive the network at no cost to the city and their residents will be offered a free service with burst rates up to 768Kbps. MeshLinx will also offer a high-speed fee-based service to all residents with speeds up to 5Mbps and with power users and corporate solutions up to 20Mbps.

The multi-radio network will operate simultaneously in both 2.4 GHz (Wi-Fi) and 4.9 GHz (public safety) spectrums on the subscriber side allowing first responders and city services their own frequency which can be encrypted to the highest levels for security.

The deployment will be accomplished in multi-phases with individual sections deployed and operational without waiting until the whole network is complete. This approach allows parts of the network to be operational by the end of 2007 with full deployment in the first half of 2008. The network will have approximately 600 Access Points placed throughout the city for “blanket” coverage throughout the city.

Mayor Gary Slagel says, “With this network, Richardson, with one of the highest concentrations of telecom businesses in the country (”telecom corridor”) will continue to stay on the cutting edge of communication technology.”

Jack Harrod, MeshLinx CEO said “MeshLinx will be deploying for the first time in a Mesh network, a true software configurable radio (SCR) on a silicon chip”. It is said to have the flexibility of real time monitoring of interference, the ability to change frequencies in real time, a DHCP/HTTP server in each Access Point, a CLI interface, and a radius client in each AP to simplify authentication.

Each MeshLinx AP runs on an Intel XScale processor running Linux and can contain anywhere between 3-12 radios, a unique antenna systems, amplifiers and battery

The technology consists of a 4.9 GHz subscriber radio to be utilized by Public Safety/first responders, a 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g) subscriber radio for city services and public use, two radios operating as a fully duplexed backhaul operating at the 5.8GHz (802.11a) frequency, and one radio operating as a spectrum analyzer allowing interference signature analysis where the Network Operations Center can identify the actual interference source.

source : dailywireless.org