What is Wireless Ad-Hoc Network?

2019-12-12

It has been 3 months since June, a freshman majoring in communication technology, entered the university. June came across with her teacher Professor Andy.  

Wireless Ad-Hoc Network (WANET) is an independent peer-to-peer wireless network autonomously formed of multiple mobile nodes on a dynamic basis. Unlike traditional wireless networks, the WANET is self-healing and requires no fixed infrastructure or centralized control. In the WANET, all the mobile nodes are generally self-powered and may act as a receiver, a sender, or a router depending on the rapid and unpredictable change in network topology. Thanks to its dynamic and flexible architecture, the WANET can be deployed flexibly and efficiently regardless of constraints such as geographical location. Thus, WANET is particularly suited to the emergency and rescue situations where the fixed infrastructure is not available such as earthquake or fire rescue. The WANET has the following inherent characteristics.

Decentralized

WANET is a peer-to-peer network without a control center. In other words, all the nodes are equal, and freely joining or leaving the network. The failure of any node will not affect the operation of entire network. 

Self-organizing

All the mobile nodes in WANET can quickly and automatically form an independent network after power-on, without the need to pre-set the network infrastructure. They can coordinate with each other based on layer protocols and distributed algorithm.

Multi-hop routing

The WANET is unlike the traditional fixed network in which the routing device such as a router is required. When a node tries to send information to other nodes which is out of its communication range, the packet can be forwarded via one or more intermediate nodes. 

Dynamic topology

The WANET has a dynamic network topology. Nodes in WANET are free to move randomly, and can turn on or off at any time. Thus, the network topology is changed accordingly.

Adopting the wireless interconnection technology, Hytera WANET products provide multi-hop links to achieve voice and data communication in an extended coverage, support up to 31 nodes for networking and various topologies including chain, tree, and mesh, realize flexible deployment according to the onsite conditions, and support dynamic networking, i.e., nodes for networking can move as wish.

Hytera WANET products are rigorously tested for compliance to the stringent ingress protection (IP). They withstand harsh environments such as dust and high temperature. In order to be applied in various kinds of conditions, multiple mounting options are provided, such as man packed, pole mounted, wall mounted and vehicle mounted. Hytera WANET products adopt Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) standards, thus are compatible with any DMR radios and systems. Working with the on-site command and control equipment, these products get the image and voice from the scene, and then transmit them back to the command center, improving situational awareness for commander.

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