FastPath Mesh™

Video Demonstration of FastPath Mesh

What is a Mesh?

Described at a high level, a wireless mesh network is one in which the links between the wireless nodes form with little or no user intervention. Once formed, a mesh network uses the optimal path to carry data from any one point to any other point and, a mesh network is able to reroute around a failed node as long as a path exists.

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Why Mesh?

Conventional routing protocols used in a wireless network may not provide the optimal path, depending on the network topology, and do not scale well as networks grow. For example; Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is usable in smaller networks where the root of the tree is fairly centrally located. In a large network, particularly distributed networks where the root of the spanning tree would not be centrally located, STP does not operate particularly well. Mesh, however, provides the optimal path, works well with varying network topologies, and scales to very large network sizes.

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Spanning Tree

Spanning tree protocol (STP) creates a loop-free network.
STP shuts down some of the links to create a spanning tree.
Being hop based, STP does not, necessarily provide an optimal path through the network.

Mesh

Mesh creates a loop-free network.
Mesh computes the lowest cost path via a per-hop cost based on link condition and an end-to-end cost computed on the cumulative cost per hop.
Mesh is optimized for network capacity, reducing the amount of broadcast and multicast traffic

Mesh Mobility

In a tactical mesh network many, or even all, nodes in the network may be mobile. This means that the mesh network must be able to adapt without user intervention to a dynamically changing network configuration where individual link quality is continuously changing and links may even drop. A single network may split into separate networks which later re-join. Changes in costs or network reachability are propagated within seconds of the a change anywhere in the network.

Fortress’s FastPath Mesh™

Fortress’s Fast Path Mesh implements a self-healing mesh network solution. Fast Path Mesh utilizes all interfaces and radio links to reach a destination using the lowest cost. The lowest cost is computed via a per-hop cost based on link condition and an end-to-end cost computed on the cumulative cost per hop. FastPath Mesh is optimized for reducing the amount of broadcast and multicast traffic to improve network capacity. FastPath Mesh supports IPv6 addressing to provide automatic addressing without the need for DHCP servers and it supports name distribution within the mesh network, without the need for a DNS server.

FastPath Mesh at a Glance

Media Independent (802.11, 802.16, FSO, wired)
End-to-end encryption
Integrated DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 servers
Integrated DNS (v4 and v6) servers
Distributed name resolution and distribution in the mesh
Very large networks and network diameters
Fast convergence
Fast switchover to network changes (node turned off and so on)
Multicast optimizations