Abstract

With the rapid popularization of mobile end-user electronic devices wireless network technologies begin to play a crucial role as networks access technologies. While classic point-to-multipoint wireless access systems, based on fixed infrastructure of base stations providing access to clients, remain the main most popular solution, an increasing attention is devoted to wireless mesh systems, where each connecting client can extend overall resources of the network by becoming a network node capable of forwarding transit traffic. This ability results in severe reduction of the necessary network infrastructure, provides through coverage (thereby offering significant step towards ubiquity of network access) and offers massive redundancy. One of the most promising wireless mesh solutions currently being developed is an IEEE 802.11s standard, based on popular WiFi technology (IEEE 802.11 standards family). It combines low deployment costs with comprehensive suite of mechanisms able to operate a self-forming, autoconfigurable, dynamically extending, and secure mesh solution. However, despite its advantages, the standard lacks sufficient support for a number of functionalities, which can lead to significant inefficiency and degradation of service quality in real-world IEEE 802.11s network deployments. In the paper we propose a number of extensions of IEEE 802.11s mechanisms, designed to provide better service quality in case of real-world deployment scenarios, especially in case of large systems. Both propositions introduce modifications to mesh path discovery and interworking procedures, while retaining compatibility with standard solution. Their basic functionality and efficiency have been verified by means of simulation model in large-scale, self-organizing mesh structure. Subsequently they have been implemented and tested in real-world, access network testbed deployment. The results clearly indicate their utility, particularly in case of larger deployments of this network system type.

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