Mesh radio is an innovative approach to delivering broadband
access to residential and small business customers. Instead of using a
central base station to serve all customers with in a radius of a few
kilometres, it makes every customerâ„¢s equipment capable of
providing service to its neighbours. New customers do not need to be
able to Ëœseeâ„¢ a central base station-they only need to
Ëœseeâ„¢ an existing customerâ„¢s antenna.The
mesh radio avoids base stations and allows low power micro wave devices
in the nodes. This reduces the startup costs and makes it feasible to
offer services in low subscriber densities. The mesh radio allow
to deliver high-capacity and high-quality services to customers. Mesh
radio is a very new technology and nobody is yet offering large scale
services based on it. The system of trial in Cardiff and further trials
planned for the US, Spain and Germany, works at 28 gigahertz “ in
the millimetre waveband.Later systems will
work at 40 gigahertz. Two way data rates of four mega bits per second
are said to be possible for upto 600 subscriber per square kilometres
compared with cell phones mesh technology may raise fewer concerns over
radiation health effects. It operates at higher frequencies than the
microwaves used by cell phone networks, allowing the signals to travel
high in the air in a tight line-of-sight beam. Power levels will be
less than one watt; whereas cell phone masts push out eight watts.
There are a number of trials and pilot services being run in Europe and
the USA. Commercial services could be available in two or three years.