1,995 research outputs found
WING/WORLD: An Open Experimental Toolkit for the Design and Deployment of IEEE 802.11-Based Wireless Mesh Networks Testbeds
Wireless Mesh Networks represent an interesting instance of light-infrastructure wireless networks. Due to their flexibility and resiliency to network failures, wireless mesh networks are particularly suitable for incremental and rapid deployments of wireless access networks in both metropolitan and rural areas. This paper illustrates the design and development of an open toolkit aimed at supporting the design of different solutions for wireless mesh networking by enabling real evaluation, validation, and demonstration. The resulting testbed is based on off-the-shelf hardware components and open-source software and is focused on IEEE 802.11 commodity devices. The software toolkit is based on an "open" philosophy and aims at providing the scientific community with a tool for effective and reproducible performance analysis of WMNs. The paper describes the architecture of the toolkit, and its core functionalities, as well as its potential evolutions
LTE in Unlicensed Bands is neither Friend nor Foe to Wi-Fi
Proponents of deploying LTE in the 5 GHz band for providing additional
cellular network capacity have claimed that LTE would be a better neighbour to
Wi-Fi in the unlicensed band, than Wi-Fi is to itself. On the other side of the
debate, the Wi-Fi community has objected that LTE would be highly detrimental
to Wi-Fi network performance. However, there is a lack of transparent and
systematic engineering evidence supporting the contradicting claims of the two
camps, which is essential for ascertaining whether regulatory intervention is
in fact required to protect the Wi-Fi incumbent from the new LTE entrant. To
this end, we present a comprehensive coexistence study of Wi-Fi and
LTE-in-unlicensed, surveying a large parameter space of coexistence mechanisms
and a range of representative network densities and deployment scenarios. Our
results show that, typically, harmonious coexistence between Wi-Fi and LTE is
ensured by the large number of 5 GHz channels. For the worst-case scenario of
forced co-channel operation, LTE is sometimes a better neighbour to Wi-Fi -
when effective node density is low - but sometimes worse - when density is
high. We find that distributed interference coordination is only necessary to
prevent a "tragedy of the commons" in regimes where interference is very
likely. We also show that in practice it does not make a difference to the
incumbent what kind of coexistence mechanism is added to LTE-in-unlicensed, as
long as one is in place. We therefore conclude that LTE is neither friend nor
foe to Wi-Fi in the unlicensed bands in general. We submit that the systematic
engineering analysis exemplified by our case study is a best-practice approach
for supporting evidence-based rulemaking by the regulator.Comment: accepted for publication in IEEE Acces
Alternative Network Deployments: Taxonomy, Characterization, Technologies, and Architectures
This document presents a taxonomy of a set of "Alternative Network Deployments" that emerged in the last decade with the aim of bringing Internet connectivity to people or providing a local communication infrastructure to serve various complementary needs and objectives. They employ architectures and topologies different from those of mainstream networks and rely on alternative governance and business models. The document also surveys the technologies deployed in these networks, and their differing architectural characteristics, including a set of definitions and shared properties. The classification considers models such as Community Networks, Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), networks owned by individuals but leased out to network operators who use them as a low-cost medium to reach the underserved population, networks that provide connectivity by sharing wireless resources of the users, and rural utility cooperatives
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