Experiences and investigations with Heraklion MESH: an experimental metropolitan multi-radio mesh network

We present our experiences and investigations with an experimental metropolitan multi-radio mesh network that covers an area of approximately 60 Km2 in the city of Heraklion, Crete. The network consists of 14 nodes, among which six are core nodes with up to four 802.11a wireless interfaces each, and an additional wireless interface for management and monitoring. The distance between core mesh nodes varies from 1.6 to 5 Km, and the wireless mesh network contains two gateways that connect it to a fixed network. Our investigations have considered the online monitoring of the links between core nodes, the interference between the wireless interfaces located in the same mesh node, channel assignment procedures, and the use of the metropolitan mesh network for real-time collection of electromagnetic field (EMF) measurements.