Semi-infrastructured mobile ad-hoc mesh networking

The paper presents the role and architectural views of ad-hoc mesh networking in extending the edge-coverage of the future mobile networks. The key architectural principles and elements of the ad-hoc mesh networks when integrated to the legacy networks and forming the semi-infrastructured ad-hoc networks are introduced. Placement of the ad-hoc mesh networks in the future network environment and the enabling technologies that practically could realize them are outlined. The reasons that make the ad-hoc networking technology attractive for extending the coverage of the future mobile networks are introduced. Finally, the performance comparison of the ad-hoc mesh networking vs. point-to-multipoint (PMP) has been evaluated by simulation results.