Survey on Research Issues in Wireless Mesh Networks

This paper describes the concept of Mesh networks which has been made viable by the convergence of wireless communications and digital electronics. A Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) consists of mesh routers and mesh clients-a path to maximum connectivity. They provide access to multiple system and conventional clients for communication. WMN’s are undergoing rapid changes due to the appetite of the customer demands and used for numerous applications. WMNs are anticipated to resolve the limitations and to significantly improve the performance of ad hoc networks, wireless localarea networks (WLANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs), and wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs). In order to provide the detailed study and better understanding about the technical issues of WMNs, this paper presents a detailed study on recent advances and open research issues in WMNs. First, the current state-of-the-art of various protocols and algorithms are explored, a review of factors influencing the design of mesh networks is provided. Then, the communication architecture for mesh networks is outlined, and the algorithms and protocols developed for each layer in the literature are explored. Finally, Open research issues in the industrial standards and current application of the system is also discussed, with an objective to spark new research interests in this field.