What is Mesh Network?

Many of us have learned various network topologies during our college years. Topologies such as start or tree, point-to-point, bus etc. Mesh network is one of the network topologies that has gathered a lot of attention in recent past for various reasons.

Mesh network is a network of nodes in which each node is connected to one or more other nodes. If every node is connected to every other node, then it is referred as “fully connected” mesh. Else, it is called as “partially connected” mesh.

In a mesh network, there’s typically one hub which connects the network to the internet. The nodes pass on the packets to the next node and eventually, the packet reaches to the hub, which in turn sends it over the internet.

Mesh Network provides built-in support for fault tolerance. If any node fails, other nodes can continue to communicate with each other and the hub. You can add more nodes easily to make it scalable. And other significant importance – if you need to shut down mesh network, you need to shut down every node in the network!

But, why Mesh Network has gained importance now?

With the rise of IoT, the number of devices needing connectivity has risen tremendously. It is not possible to provide internet connectivity to each and every device for various reasons. This gave rise to the concept of edge computing. Although each device needs connectivity, it is not physically possible to connect every device to the hub which connects to the internet. In such cases, partially connected mesh network helps. Every device can route traffic to next device and ultimately message can reach the hub which connects to the internet. ZigBee uses mesh networking to create Personal Area Networks.

There is another interesting use case has come to the fore.

With the heating debate on Net Neutrality, communities around the globe have started forming their own mesh network to connect to the internet. In such cases, they buy the bandwidth from some datacentre provider instead of some telecom operator/ISP. This bandwidth is then used to form a mesh network in the given geography. This helps communities to have neutral access to the internet. Check out NycMesh.

Similar mesh networks have also been utilized to organize private gatherings or protests.

Mesh network can also be utilized to provide internet connectivity to remote areas. Check out AirJaldi for details.

YourStory has a very good article on covering the trends in Mesh Networking which is focussed on India.

Related Keywords

ZigBee, Internet Of Things, Networking, Net Neutrality

Mesh Network