Mesh-Based Broadband Home Network Solution: Setup and Experiments

In this paper, we investigate architectural and practical issues related to the setup of a broadband home network solution. Our experience led us to the consideration of a hybrid, wireless and wired, Mesh-Network to enable high data rate service delivery everywhere in the home. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal using a real experimental testbed. This latter consists of a multi-hop mesh network composed of a home gateway and "extenders" supporting several types of physical connectivity including PLC, WiFi, and Ethernet. The solution also includes a layer 2 implementation of the OLSR protocol for path selection. We developed an extension of this protocol for QoS assurance and to enable the proper execution of existing services. We have also implemented a fast WiFi handover algorithm to ensure service continuity in case of user mobility among the extenders inside the home.