What is mesh networking?

Mesh networks are commonly found in homes

How is this different than a traditional network (cable internet, DSL, etc.)?

With traditional cable internet providers, your house and possibly hundreds more are connected to a central “joiner,” if that one point goes down, everyone connected to it will lose connectivity. Also, the farther you are from it, the weaker the signal since there is cable loss. In some cases, since the physical infrastructure is very expensive, providers will choose to deploy a central point to cover the largest number of people, ignoring the underserved.

Traditional ways to bring internet via cable are also expensive. To phrase it simply: it requires careful planning on digging underground trenches to house the cables.

With mesh networking, there can be multiple access points connected wirelessly, increasing coverage easily. As long as they are within range, they can communicate with another one wireless, relaying the network to a data center. For example, when a client sends a message or request, the data is propagated along a path by hopping from node to node until it reaches its destination.

Benefits of mesh networks

1. Flexible: Dead spots can be eliminated by simply adding a node that links to another one. Nodes can be connected together either wirelessly or through cable (ethernet, fiber optic, coax, etc).
2. Resiliency: A node can connect to each other, often to 2 or more if for example Point 1 goes down, Point 2 can still route the data for Point 3
3. Direct path: If data needs to be moved from Point 2 to Point 3, a mesh network allows it to form a direct path, eliminating the need to be routed to a bigger data center and routed back

Mesh vs. Star mesh networks

Why is it so difficult?

To ensure that its path is available, a “packet” sent is propagated along a path from hopping from node to node until it reaches its destination, or in our case a data center to route it to the public web. To ensure that its path is available at all times, the network must allow for continuous connections and must reconfigure itself around a broken path if it encounters one.

This requires the use of “self-healing” algorithms, such as Shortest Path Bridging. This technique allows a routing-based network to still operate when a node breaks down or if it detects instability. As a result, the more nodes, the more stable the network.

At KiteFi, our engineering team is working hard to design new algorithms to ensure maximum stability in a fully open mesh network. We plan on supporting commodity hardware and open-sourcing everything to allow anyone to build a mesh network of their own for bringing connectivity to everyone.

Go to kitefi.net to learn more.