A CARMEN mesh experience: deployment and results

Abstract

When there is no wired connectivity, wireless mesh networks (WMNs) can provide Internet access with lower cost and greater flexibility than traditional approaches. This has motivated the design of new protocols and algorithms for WMNs, and recently the deployment of experimental prototypes. In this paper we add to these previous works with the performance evaluation of a first CARMEN deployment, with the following distinguishing features: i) it is an indoor deployment, ii) it is used by real users to connect to the Internet, and iii) it is built using off-the-shelf hardware. The results show that mesh technology can provide users with a satisfactory Internet experience, and motives further research along this line.