Wireless Mesh Networks and Intelligent Transport Systems

This report addresses technological and marketing issues of wireless mesh networks (WMN) and it shows that such networks are playing a very important role in the development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). WMNs allow building self-organized and self-healing architectures where all nodes are equally involved in the transport of video, voice and data, making decisions based on information received from neighbors. The network responds on each failure, and because it has in-built redundancy, re-routes traffic from a place of failure. Such survivable communications is very important in supporting of ITS, which may deal with unexpected factors and is operated, usually, by non-technical operators (drivers).

The report analyzes WMN structures, and deals with:

• Radio technologies utilized by WMN
• Routing protocols.

In discussion of radio technologies for WMN, we emphasize the importance of three forward-looking wireless protocols: IEEE802.11n, ZigBee and Ultra Wideband (UWB). Though the majority of WMNs, at the present time use slower IEEE802.11b, g technologies, it is our perception that these three protocols will be building blocks of WMN in the near future. Except ZigBee, these technologies allow transmission with a rate of hundreds Mb/s and support greater coverage. ZigBee-structured WMNs are already a today reality in spite of a fact that their speed of transmission cannot exceed a couple of hundreds Kb/s.

All discussed technologies have features that are useful in the WMN environment:

• Extremely low power consumption
• Inherent security features
• Low sensitivity to mutipath problems.

The report analyzes technological benefits and limitations of each radio technology and standardization process as well as presents the marketing analysis and forecast.

The report also addresses the standardization process for WMN, and discusses a status of the IEEE802.11s standard. It shows that, so far, almost every manufacturer of WMN nodes uses proprietary routing protocols, and this situation slows WMN development. Some of the most popular routing protocols in use by WMNs are discussed in the report.

WMN architectures found already many applications in the commercial market, though initially they were the military prerogative. Among the most popular applications, we addressed:

• Municipalities
• ITS
• Public safety communications
• Industrial automation
• Consumers.

Note that WMNs are perfect choice for ITS. These networks can be easily deployed in a very short period of time (for example, in the emergency situations), and each node may be associated with a car or an element of the infrastructure, as per an ad-hoc network scenario. Some technologies, such as UWB, may be used for dual purposes being a building block not only for communications devices, but for extremely precise radar as well.

The report provides market characteristics of WMN, and shows that the industry already has created a strong basis for future WMN expansion. We envision that in several years 802.11n and UWB will prevail in WMN applications required high-speed transmission (for example, video), and they will successfully compete with wired technologies, such as Fast Ethernet. ZigBee and 802.11a, b, g will be left for applications that do not require high speed transmission, such as, for example, industrial automation, or home networks.

The report also analyzes a status of the ITS development; and it shows that WMN may become a very important part of ITS.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 General

1.2 WMN: the Industry Efforts

1.3 New Tasks

1.4 Technologies

1.5 Definition

1.6 Features

1.6.1 Ad-Hoc and Mesh

1.7 ITS - General

1.8 Scope

1.9 Research Methodology

1.10 Target Audience

2.0 Mesh Networks: Standards

2.1 General

2.2 IEEE 802.11s

2.2.1 Standardization Process

2.2.1.1 Wi-Mesh Alliance

2.2.1.2 SEEMesh

2.2.1.3 Selection

3.0 Radio Technologies

3.1 IEEE 802.11n

3.1.1 Advanced Technologies: MIMO and Others

3.1.1.1 General

3.1.1.2 Spatial Multiplexing

3.1.1.3 OFDM

3.1.2 Directions

3.1.3 Standard

3.1.3.1 Ratification

3.1.3.1.1 EWC

3.1.4 Details: Technology

3.1.5 Market

3.1.5.1 General

3.1.5.2 Market Forecast

3.1.5.2.1 Model Assumptions

3.1.5.2.2 Estimate

3.1.5.2.2.1 Chipsets

3.1.5.2.2.2 Platforms

3.1.6 802.11n Industry Players

Apple

Atheros

Belkin

Broadcom

Buffalo

ESQube

Intel

Ruckus

Linksys

Marvell

Metalink

NEC

Netgear

SiGe

TrendNet

3.2 ZigBee

3.2.1 General

3.2.2 Device Types

3.2.3 Protocol Stack

3.2.3.1 Physical and MAC layers - IEEE802.15.4

3.2.3.1.1 Frame

3.2.4 Upper Layers

3.2.5 Interoperability

3.2.6 Security

3.2.7 Platform Considerations

3.2.7.1 Battery Life

3.2.8 Technology Benefits and Limitations

3.2.9 Standardization Process

3.2.9.1 ZigBee Alliance

3.2.9.2 Objectives

3.2.9.3 802.15.4- ZigBee Basis

3.2.9.4 IEEE 802.15.4 Radio

3.2.9.5 Application Specifics

3.2.10 ZigBee Role

3.2.11 Market

3.2.11.1 Expectations

3.2.11.2 Segments

3.2.11.3 Forecast

3.2.12 Industry

AeroComm

Airbee (Software)

Amber (RF Systems)

Atmel (Chipsets)

Chipcon -TI (Chipsets)

Cirronet (Modules Industrial Automation)

CrossBow

Duolog (Transceivers)

Eazix (Modules)

Ember (Chipsets)

Falcom (Modules)

Helicomm (Modules)

Jennic (Chipsets-Modules)

Freescale (Chipsets)

Luxoft Labs (Integration)

M&R Lawugger GmbH (Software)

Maxstream (WSN Modules)

Nanotron (Chipsets)

Oki (Chipsets)

Renesas (Platforms)

Silicon Laboratories (Chipsets, Modules)

Telegesis (Integrator)

Uniband (Chipsets)

ZMD (Chipsets)

3.3 UWB

3.3.1 General

3.3.2 Obstacles

3.3.3 Benefits

3.3.4 Definition

3.3.5 Rates

3.3.6 Spectrum Allocation

3.3.7 Choices

3.3.8 Major Features

3.3.9 Standards and Regulations

3.3.9.1 Multiband OFDM

3.3.9.2 DS-UWB

3.3.9.3 Groups

3.3.9.4 ECMA

3.3.9.5 WiNET

3.3.10 Major Applications

3.3.11 Market Estimate

3.3.11.1 General

3.3.11.2 Geographical Segmentation

3.3.11.3 Forecast

3.3.12 Industry

Aether (localization devices-ITS)

Alereon (chipsets)

Artimi (chipsets)

BBN (radio, first responders applications)

Camero (radar, equipment for first responders)

decaWave (chipsets)

Focus Enhancement (chipsets)

Freescale (chipsets, systems)

General Atomics (chipsets)

Multispectral (RFID and others)

Parco (RFID)

Pulse~ Link (chipsets)

RealTek

Staccato (chipsets)

TriQuint (chipsets - homeland security applications)

Time Domain (chipsets-fusion of communications & radar)

Tzero (chipsets)

Ubisense (RFID-tracking)

Wisair (chipsets)

WiQuest (chipsets)

4.0 Technology: Mesh Networks Specifics

4.1 Features

4.1.1 Subclasses

4.1.1.1 General

4.1.1.2 Urban WMN

4.1.1.3 Car-to-Car

4.1.1.4 Modes

4.2 Benefits and Limitations

4.2.1 Benefits

4.2.2 ITS Specifics

4.2.3 Limitations

4.3 Architectures

4.3.1 Major Applications

4.4 Routing Protocols

4.4.1 Too Many

4.4.1.1. Lack of Standardization

4.4.1.2 Applications Variety

4.4.2 Protocols

4.5 Security Issues

4.5.1 General

4.5.2 802.11

4.5.3 UWB

4.5.4 ZigBee

4.6 Market: Mesh Networks

4.6.1 Major Segments

4.6.1.1 Advanced Segments

4.6.2 Market Estimate

4.6.2.1 Market Leaders

4.6.3 Forecast

4.7 Major WMN Vendors and their Products

Active Control (Building and Extreme Environments)

ArrowSpan (Mesh in Transportation)

BelAir (Nodes)

Cisco (Protocols, Nodes)

Coronis Systems (WMN Nodes)

Crossbow (nodes)

Dust Networks (WMN Nodes)

Eka Systems (WMN Utilities)

Ember (ZigBee chips for WMN)

Intel (Nodes)

IWT(Network Solution)

IPMobileNet (WMN)

Iteris

FireTide (Mesh network-Public safety applications)

MeshDynamics (Nodes)

Millennial Net (SW and Systems)

Moteiv (Nodes and SW)

MeshNetworks (Motorola)

Mitre (protocols)

Motorola (Nodes-Public Safety Communications-ITS)

Newtrax (WSN-mesh, UGS)

NexGen City (Mesh-Public Safety)

Northrop Grumman (Nodes)

Nortel (WMN Systems)

NovaRoam (Public Safety Communications -WMN)

Now Wireless (Nodes, ITS)

Octave Technologies (WSN)

PacketHop (WMN SW)

Proxim (WMN Nodes)

Rajant (WMN-Military, First Responders)

Sensoria (WMN for Public Safety Communications)

Sensicast (WMN for Industrial Automation)

SIAE (WMN for IA)

SkyPilot Networks (WMN Nodes)

Strix (Nodes)

SysMaster

Qorvus (WMN for IA)

Telepath (Sensors Networks)

Tropos (Routers, OS)

Ubiwave (Mesh Network)

5.0 ITS-Intelligent Transport Systems

5.1 General

5.2 History: U.S.

5.3 ITS Architecture: U.S.

5.4 Technologies

5.5 ITS Applications

5.6 National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP)

5.7 WMN and ITS

5.7.1 General

5.7.2 Benefits

5.7.3 WMN ITS Applications

6.0 Conclusions

List of Figures

Figure 1: Wireless Communications: ITS Environment

Figure 2: Mesh Network Diagram

Figure 3: WiMesh Stack

Figure 4: Basic two-antenna MIMO system with two-stream SDM Example

Figure 5: 802.11 Protocol Family MAC Frame Structure

Figure 6: 802.11n IC Market Estimate ($M)

Figure 7: Market Estimate: 802.11n Equipment Shipping ($B)

Figure 8: ZigBee Protocol Stack

Figure 9: Estimate: ZigBee Chipsets Market Worlwide ($M)

Figure 10: ZigBee Market Segmentation (2006)

Figure 11: ZigBee Market Segmentation (2010)

Figure 12: UWB Spectrum

Figure 13: Market Estimate: UWB Circuitry ($B)

Figure 14: Market Estimate: Multiband OFDM UWB Circuitry ($B)

Figure 15: Market Estimate: DS UWB Circuitry ($B)

Figure 16: Estimate of UWB Market - Communications Applications ($B)

Figure 17: Mesh Network Equipment Sale: Market Estimate ($B)

Figure 18: Mesh Network Radio Technologies

Figure 19: Technology Segmentation: Mesh Network Market

Figure 20: Mesh Network Market Geography (2006)

Figure 21: Wireless Communications: ITS Environment

Figure 22 ITS Architecture

Figure 23: NTCIP Structure

List of Tables

Table 1: 802.11 Family

Table 2: 802.11 Family-Rates

Table 3: Parameters

Table 4: Comparison: DS-UWB and MB-OFDM