Wireless Utopia

Continuing on the topic of Stupid vs. Intelligent networks, here is a nice article by Network World describing an ongoing DARPA project which is a combination MANET, SDR's, AI and Sematic Web. These technologies are still at a very nascent stage and restricted to academic research. The idea is to create a self configuring network which does not have a single point of failure, where inidividual devices can figure out which radio spectrum to use for communication based on the network condition and present meaningful and correct information to the user.

All these technologies are already being applied at a smaller scale. In the MuniWiFi deployments the WiFi Access Point's actually form a mesh between them. They use dynamic routing protocols which is the heart of MANET's. Rather than depending upon traditional table based routing, the dynamic routing protocols figure out a way to route the IP packets based on the changing network conditions. Several such protocols have been standardised: ADOV, OLSR and DSR. Likewise, the Mesh WiMAX standards also derive off the MANET protocols.

The mesh networks are the new wave. Its a paradigm shift in the way we think about architecting networks.

Technorati Tags: MANET, SDR, Cognitive Radio, AI, Muni WiFi, WiMAX, DARPA, Mesh Networks