The first and geographically largest deployment of mobile mesh networking technology for use by a civic public safety entity will go on the air in April in Garland, Texas.

The network, from NextGen City of Richardson, Texas, and MeshNetworks of Maitland, Fla., is based on a micro-cellular architecture that places router functionality in every network component, a scheme that creates a self-forming and self-healing network with peer-to-peer networking capabilities.

The approach embeds a wireless router in every device so that each unit can extend the network, determine optimum paths for data transmission and provide additional paths for connectivity. The dynamic routing capability of the network enables devices to hand off communications seamlessly, even in vehicles traveling at high speeds.

In tests conducted last year in the Garland area along Highway 190, two vehicles traveling more than 60mph in opposite directions successfully demonstrated real-time streaming video, voice-over-IP calls, and data through-put rates reaching 1.5Mbps.

“Unlike conventional cellular or fixed wireless communications systems that require antennae and individual devices with enough battery power to communicate with the tower, mesh architecture enables greater connectivity through more points of access, as well as better system throughput by reducing demands on the wireless infrastructure,” said Rick Rotondo, MeshNetworks' vice president of technical marketing.

The network, which supports standard TCP/IP, DHCP and SNMP protocols, is capable of sustained data rates of 1Mbps and bursts to 6Mbps. Routers are deployed in a grid, or mesh fashion, on just about any components of the existing infrastructure — buildings, streetlights or traffic signals. The idea is that the more devices which are available, the more signal paths are created and the more fault-tolerant the network becomes. “This scheme eliminates single points of failure,” Rotondo said.

The network also includes a geo-location application that doesn't require satellite-based GPS receivers. Each fixed device in the network yields latitude, longitude and elevation attributes, while triangulation calculations produce the same attributes for each mobile device, meaning mobile resources can be tracked and plotted with precision.

Rotondo said the network, which was designed for the military and used in Desert Storm, is good not only for first responders but for all mobile resources in the city.