User's Manual

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mesh, the Mesh Stamps must be separated so that they are not all communicating directly with

the Gateway.

There are various configurations which can be constructed by the Gateway and the five Mesh

Stamps. Just a couple are pictured here. To form one of these configurations, distribute the

nodes so the desired links are within communications range and the ones you don’t want to

communicate are out of range. Then bring up the Mesh Status GUI in Mesh Master and observe

that the data from all Mesh Stamps continues to be received.

Mesh Master topology tools may also be used to investigate the topology of the network.

The robustness test

The robustness test shows that traffic from the Mesh Stamps continues to be delivered even with

some disruption of the mesh.

Build a mesh configuration where the traffic from three nodes traverses two others. Verify that

data is being received from all five Mesh Stamps. Then turn the power off on Mesh Stamp A.

Verify that data is being received from the remaining four Mesh Stamps.

Restore power to Mesh Stamp A and let it rejoin the Mesh. Then turn the power off on Mesh

Stamp B. Verify that data is being received from the four powered Mesh Stamps.

All traffic should have continued to be delivered. With each disruption, the traffic passed through

the remaining intermediate node. This demonstrates how the Mesh uses multiple paths for data

delivery.

5 Network Activities

Changing Firmware in the network

A challenging maintenance function for a distributed network is to upgrade the firmware of the

remote nodes. The MeshPlus® Network provides for firmware upgrades over the network.

The steps to upgrade the firmware are to load the firmware onto the Mesh Master machine, then

load the firmware onto the Gateway and finally configure the Mesh Stamps to use and download

the firmware.

The duty cycle of a battery-powered mesh will impact the time it takes to download the firmware.

The larger the sleep time, the longer it will take to download.

Mesh Stamp

Gateway

Mesh Stamp

Mesh Master