Building an IP-Based Community Wireless Mesh Network: Assessment of PACMAN as an IP Address Autoconfiguration Protocol Articles uri icon

publication date

  • March 2010

start page

  • 291

end page

  • 303

issue

  • 2

volume

  • 54

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1389-1286

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1872-7069

abstract

  • Wireless mesh networks are experiencing rapid progress and inspiring numerous applications in different scenarios, due to features such as autoconfiguration, self-healing, connectivity coverage extension and
    support for dynamic topologies. These particular characteristics make
    wireless mesh networks an appropriate architectural basis for the design
    of easy-to-deploy community or neighbourhood networks. One of the main
    challenges in building a community network using mesh networks is the
    minimisation of user intervention in the IP address configuration of the
    network nodes. In this paper we first consider the process of building
    an IP-based mesh network using typical residential routers, exploring
    the options for the configuration of their wireless interfaces. Then we
    focus on IP address autoconfiguration, identifying the specific
    requirements for community mesh networks and analysing the applicability
    of existing solutions. As a result of that analysis, we select PACMAN,
    an efficient distributed address autoconfiguration mechanism originally
    designed for ad-hoc networks, and we perform an experimental study -
    using off-the-shelf routers and assuming worst-case scenarios -
    analysing its behaviour as an IP address autoconfiguration mechanism for
    community wireless mesh networks. The results of the conducted
    assessment show that PACMAN meets all the identified requirements of the
    community scenario.