Enhanced, Ubiquitous and Dependable Broadband Access using MESH Networks

This is the focus of the thirty-month EC-funded project EU-MESH (Enhanced, Ubiquitous and Dependable Broadband Access using MESH Networks), which commenced in January 2008 and is targetting the objective 'Network of the Future' of ICT's 'Pervasive and Trusted Network and Service Infrastructures' challenge.

EU-MESH's goal is to develop, evaluate and trial a system of software modules for building dependable multi-radio multi-channel mesh networks with QoS support that provide ubiquitous and ultra-high-speed broadband access. The system will be based on a converged infrastructure that uses a wireless mesh network to aggregate the capacity from both subscriber broadband access lines and provider fixed broadband links to form a virtual capacity pool, and will provide access to this capacity pool for both stationary and mobile users. It will support low operation and management costs, through novel configuration and management procedures that achieve efficient usage of both the wireless spectrum and fixed broadband access lines. This will increase the competitiveness of existing providers, lower the barrier for small enterprises to enter the mobile broadband access market, and enable innovative services.

Existing mesh systems are based on non-standard solutions, do not achieve efficient resource utilization, have sub-optimal channel and power control that prohibits large-scale deployment, and lack a comprehensive security solution combining proactive and reactive mechanisms.

To address the above, EU-MESH's objectives are to develop:

algorithms that combine channel access with power and channel control to reduce interference
QoS and opportunistic routing algorithms to support scalable end-to-end QoS and efficient resource usage
location-aware automated (re-)configuration procedures that adapt to varying network conditions to provide robust connectivity
lightweight application layer procedures for seamless mobility over heterogeneous and multi-operator mesh networks, and
secure routing, communications and handover in multi-operator mesh networks, and intrusion detection and mitigation mechanisms that exploit cross-layer monitoring.

The system will be assessed through local experiments and metropolitan-scale trials, from the perspective of a pure wireless network operator and a wired/wireless telecom provider.

The nine European organizations participating in the EU-MESH project are: FORTH-ICS (Coordinator, Greece), National Research Council - CNR (Italy), Technical University of Berlin (Germany), University of Applied Science of Ticino - SUPSI (Switzerland), Budapest University of Technology and Economics - BME (Hungary), Proximetry (Poland), Forthnet (Greece), Thales Communications (France), and Ozone (France).

Link:
http://www.eu-mesh.eu/

Please contact:
Vasilios Siris, FORTH-ICS, Greece
Tel: +30 2810 391726
E-mail: vsirisics.forth.gr