Duplexing, multiplexing, and multiple access: A comparative analysis for mesh networks

Wireless mesh networks have seen much attention in recent years, and are still a topic of much interest. These networks have application in tactical military systems as well as commercial systems. The question of which duplexing, multiplexing, and multiple access techniques are preferable for mesh networks is also a subject of some study, but this particular topic has seen surprisingly little attention. It appears that time-division, or ldquoburstedrdquo waveforms are currently favored in many systems. In this paper we provide a basic comparison of time, frequency, and time-frequency schemes, highlighting their similarities and differences. We also provide a straightforward analysis of network capacity, with results that indicate that time-frequency approaches may be superior to the other more commonly employed techniques in some cases, such as for long-range, high data rate networks.