User's Guide

- 6 of 42 –
neo.
cortec
.
3 NeoMesh Wireless Ad-Hoc MESH-networking
3.1 Overview
NeoMesh is a wireless system designed with versatility in mind allowing users to build
products in many different application areas. It is optimised for ultra-low power
operation, and allows operation on small batteries for several years. NeoMesh is ideally
suited for Wireless Sensor Networks where each sensor/device does not need to send
data very often, and where the payload size is small. Contrary to most other Mesh
Network Technologies, NeoMesh allows flexible and dynamic network topologies with
almost no limit to network size or network depth.
The NeoMesh wireless communication protocol is available in a series of fully integrated
and pre-certified modules. Several versions of the modules are available; they all
integrate the same core NeoMesh protocol stack across different frequency bands.
Data transmission through the network is done sequentially from node to node, until the
data reaches its destination. The following sections provides a detailed description of
the network protocol functionality. It is essential to understand these details prior to
planning and engineering a product based on the NeoMesh technology.
3.2 NeoMesh – 2
nd
generation Wireless Mesh Network
To better understand the advantages of NeoMesh, it is useful to compare it with legacy
mesh network technologies. NeoMesh is a 2
nd
generation mesh network, and builds on
the experience from legacy mesh networks. Improvements are made in the areas which
were challenging. In particular, legacy mesh networks had limitations in terms of
scalability and power efficiency.
3.2.1 Legacy mesh network characteristics
Legacy mesh networks are organized in a hierarchical system, where different nodes has
different capabilities as well as different “responsibilities” in the network.
A typical topology is illustrated below: