What Is Mesh Networking?

Mesh networking is a phrase you often hear when talking about wireless networks so it's worth going into detail about what this wireless capability is all about.

In a nutshell, wireless access points (APs) have 2 methods to forward user traffic upstream to the distribution layer, the first method is to take wireless data and forward it to the next hop on the wired network itself.  This method requires that the AP be directly connected to the Ethernet cabled network, which is not always possible.  The second method is for the AP to forward the user data to another AP which is connected to the physical network.  This is what's called "Mesh".

Mesh networking is one of the most useful features of Wireless LANs and all Ruckus Wireless APs have very robust Mesh networking capabilities built in.   In existing buildings one of the primary reasons people want Wi-Fi is because cabling is either impossible or cost prohibitive to install.   Since a Mesh AP only needs to be plugged in to an electrical outlet, using a Mesh topology in existing buildings is very common.

In a Mesh WLAN, access points can either be a Mesh AP, meaning they are not connected to an Ethernet cable, or a Root AP, in which case they are connected to the physical network.  When a user Associates (connects) to a Mesh AP, the Mesh AP acts as a radio repeater and sends his traffic upstream towards a Root AP.

When an AP forwards traffic to another AP, this is naturally called a "Hop".  Ruckus Wireless APs can be chained together with a maxium of 7 hops to get to the Root AP.  For low bandwidth applications like Bar Code Scanners, 7 hops is not a problem but for general Wi-Fi users best practice is not to exceed 3 hops to the Root AP.

If you're using single band APs, Mesh traffic is time shared with user traffic at each hop, if you're using dual band APs like the ZoneFlex 7962 and 7363, Mesh traffic is automatically routed over a 5 Mhz Backhaul network that separates it from user traffic.  Ruckus Wireless APs use a layer 2 routing protocol to select the fasted route to the Root AP and will automatically reconfigure the topology if interference or other problems are encountered.  This is also known as "Self Healing".

Ruckus access points are well known for their ability to handle impressive amounts of data, and using dual band APs in a Mesh topology does not impact performance in the least.  In buildings where there is no suspended "T-bar" ceiling, we install a Mesh Wi-Fi network 60% of the time.  There's no added cost or performance penalties and it allows users to enjoy network connectivity that otherwise would be impossible to deliver.

In every Mesh network there must be at least one Root AP and each Root AP can service dozens of downstream Mesh APs.  Multiple Root APs also provide robust faut tolerance for Mesh networks in case of network outages, cables accidentally being cut or radio interference.

Mesh networking and especially Ruckus Wireless's implementation of it, allow customers to deploy networks in areas impossible to run cables to such as existing buildings with insufficient attic access, outdoor environments and temporary installations.