Wireless Mesh Networking Alters Urban Landscape

Whether it is the one-square-mile area of Grand Marais, Minn., or the 135-square-mile network being developed in Philadelphia, wireless mesh networks are growing in popularity in municipalities across the country.

According to high-tech market research firm In-Stat, the wireless access point market is expected to grow to $974.3 million by 2009 from $33.5 million in 2004. The public safety and municipal government markets are seeing an increase in wireless mesh networking as towns try to stay connected and enable residents to access the Internet.

“You&'re starting to see a lot more press about cities looking at wireless mesh networks as [having] a couple of [benefits]: to revitalize communities and to offer free wireless service,” said Mark Kuta, senior vendor business manager for mobility at Ingram Micro, Santa Ana, Calif. “Another benefit is for the public sector to be able to provide the police, the fire and emergency technicians with additional mobility coverage to access information faster,” he said.

Tucson, Ariz., has become the latest municipality to sign on to create a wireless mesh network for public safety. Called Emergency Room Link (ER-Link), the system will provide video and patient telemetry services between ambulances and the University Medical Trauma Center, giving ambulances access to a “virtual doctor.”

Wireless Facilities, San Diego, which is installing the solution, is enlisting network architect Tropos Networks and using a patient telemetry system from General Devices, Ridgefield, N.J.

Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif., recently announced it was getting into the wireless mesh game, joining players such as Tropos, Sunnyvale, Calif.; Strix Systems, Calabasas, Calif.; and BelAir Networks, Kanata, Ontario.

Mesh networks are composed of a series of nodes that communicate with each other with a central access point, creating a virtual net that users can access from any point. The nodes transmit signals via the best path available, so when one node is taken out of order, the system automatically realigns itself to continue providing service. To cover a square mile with wireless mesh network access requires between 20 and 30 nodes.

“Because it&'s a dynamic mesh, the system automatically finds the best route through the network,” said Jay Gustafson, president of First Mile Wireless, Blaine, Minn. “If it were to fail, rather than be cut off, they&'ll re-mesh and find an alternate route.”

First Mile Wireless has installed networks in four Midwestern towns, and Gustafson saw firsthand a significant failure averted when a telephone pole that hosted a node in Moorehead, Minn., was struck by a car and toppled to the ground.

“The node kept running because of its battery back-up. There was still a user connected to it, even with it lying on the ground,” Gustafson said. “It automatically re-meshed and re-routed the traffic during the outage. The customers in the area weren&'t even aware that there was an outage.”

Installing the mesh networks presents a challenge for solution providers, especially in cities. Networks in cities have to work in three dimensions so that residents can have access not only from the first floor, but from a skyscraper&'s twentieth floor as well. “The [biggest] challenge is that the whole idea of mesh is new,” Ingram Micro&'s Kuta said.

Kuta added that he encourages solution providers to look beyond just the initial implementation of a project and explore opportunities that will emerge as more towns offer free or low-cost wireless access to residents.

“A lot of opportunity in play is around the VAR community being able to take advantage of this free access that the cities are looking at and providing a business solution for SMB customers,” Kuta said. “[There are also opportunities in] security, because this network that the city is providing is free. Everybody can be on it. In a business, you have to address the concerns of being secure.”

Public safety networks encrypt data to keep it secure, he said, but businesses that access municipal wireless networks will need help.

“A VAR can come in and do a site survey and provide the information on products needed to provide a security solution,” Kuta said.