1. John Brett VP, Marketing & Operations MESH AND PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS Your Power. Your Data. One Wireless Network.

2. What is a mesh network? Pros & cons Accessing mesh networks Examples Agenda

3. Typical network topologies Bus Ring Star Tree

4. Mesh network Mesh can be full or partial Built-in redundancy Wireless advantage Inexpensive to connect Broadcast capability Utility networks are hybrid  Mesh LAN + WAN

5. Nodes in the network (endpoints) can forward information traffic that is not intended for the node Multiple redundant communications paths throughout the network Self configuring – adding new endpoints is plug-and-play Self healing – human intervention is not required for re-routing messages around failed endpoints Key characteristics

6. Advantages Built in redundancy - Multiple comm. paths Simple flexibility - Adapts to environment The more, the better Easy to deploy - If self configuring Robust - If self healing Pros & cons Disadvantages ×Redundant data traffic ×Interference - Typically using shared frequencies (e.g. 900 MHz) ×Requires a backhaul

7. Things to examine when assessing mesh and peer-to-peer networks Provisos

8. Eh?  Typical LAN ranges: 500 feet to 1,500 feet  Daisy-chaining (multi-hops) can extend range Range Function of link budget Transmit power Receiver sensitivity Antenna pattern Path loss

9. Range will vary at different orientations to the meter Function of: Inherent antenna pattern Large chunk of metal in meter next to antenna Building siding material Pattern is relevant for both transmission and reception Antenna Objective: make antenna –Omni-directional –Immune to external factors

10. Range will vary at different orientations to the meter A shared frequency system (e.g. 900 MHz) will see interference - Interference is transient in nature - Systems are designed to operate in a shared frequency environment - Robust system will cope with it Interference

11. Spread spectrum Interference, cont’d

12. Find out: Are adjacent frequency bands filtered out? (e.g. paging above 928 MHz) What is the error correction performance for a single packet transmission? -i.e. What percentage of a single packet transmission can be lost without losing the information? How many mesh networks can operate concurrently within earshot of each other? Interference, cont’d

13. Backhaul / WAN - Star Star Point-to-Point - Talk with one LAN at a time Typical for public networks (wired and cellular) - Ready to deploy - Coverage questionable in rural environments (cellular) - Ongoing service fees

14. Backhaul / WAN - Bus Bus Point-to-multipoint - Broadcast capability May be a private network - More capital investment - Tailored for your service territory - No service fees

15. Example: Rural hilly terrain Self configuring - choose the best path Self-healing - Seek alternate path in event primary path fails Multi-hop - Improves economics - Daisy-chains around obstacles Collector

16. Example Urban Township Self-configuring - LANs automatically build Self-healing - Multiple redundancies Flexible - Easy to add future devices Collectors

17. Your Power. Your Data. One Wireless Network. www.tantalus.com