Mesh networks have become increasingly important because they can be easily implemented without much infrastructure and can support adequate bandwidth with a flexible multi-hop wireless communication among their routers serving the clients. This talk provides an overview of the design of Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) and identifies various characteristics. Problems such as route determination, channel allocation, load-balancing, etc. will be described to have a clear understanding of the mesh technology. Issues such as selfishness and its impact on the performance will be discussed. Useful research directions will also be clearly identified. Future widespread deployment of the WMN seems quite promising, even though security and scalability questions still remain real bottlenecks.
Bio: Dharma P. Agrawal is the Ohio Board of Regents Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and the founding director for the Center for Distributed and Mobile Computing in the Department of Computer Science. During autumn 2006 and winter 2007, he was on sabbatical leave as a Visiting Professor of ECE at the Carnegie Mellon University. He has been a faculty member at the N.C. State University, Raleigh and the Wayne State University. His current research interests include resource allocation in wireless mesh networks, query processing and secured communication in sensor networks, environmental monitoring using sensor networks, and effective traffic handling in integrated wireless networks, and use of smart directional antennas for enhanced QoS. At UC, he has led implementation of two different test-beds: one for Sensor Network for monitoring CO around the UC campus and second 26 nodes Wireless Mesh Network in 8th floor of 3 Engineering buildings at UC. He has also collaborated with College of Conservatory Music to demonstrate use of sensors in automatically generating music based on dancers’ movement and physical location in the studio. He has co-authored a textbook entitled Introduction to Wireless and Mobile Systems published by Brooks/Cole, and has been adopted through the world and has been reprinted in both China and India as well as translated in both Korean and Chinese languages. His second co-authored book Ad hoc and Sensor Networks- Theory and Applications published by World Scientific in spring 2006 has been named as the best seller. A new co-edited book entitled, Encyclopedia on Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, is being published by the World Scientific in early 2009. He is an editor for the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Systems, founding Editorial Board/Advisory Member, International Journal on Distributed Sensor Networks, International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing (IJAHUC), International Journal of Ad Hoc & Sensor Wireless Networks, and the Journal of Information Assurance and Security (JIAS), and International Journal of Communications, Network and System Sciences (IJCNS). He has served as an editor of the IEEE Computer magazine, and the IEEE Transactions on Computers and the International Journal of High Speed Computing. He has been the Program Chair and General Chair for numerous international conferences and meetings. He has received numerous certificates from the IEEE Computer Society. He was awarded a “Third Millennium Medal,†by the IEEE for his outstanding contributions. He has also delivered keynote speech for 20 international conferences. He has published over 550 papers, given 27 different tutorials and extensive training courses in various conferences in USA, and numerous institutions in Taiwan, Korea, Jordan, UAE, Malaysia, and India in the areas of Ad hoc and Sensor Networks and Mesh Networks, including security issues. He has graduated 56 PhDs and 39 MS students. He has been named as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher and is a Fellow of the IEEE, the ACM, the AAAS and the World Innovation Foundation. Recently, he won the IEEE-CS 2008 Harry H. Goode Memorial award.
