The characteristic of a mesh network that is important to the experiment is its ability to be implemented on ad hoc network technology. Connectivity can still be maintained among active nodes even if some mesh nodes are destroyed or damage by natural disasters like earthquakes (Takashi et al., 2005).
This emergency communication has the advantage of availability even in times of disasters. In as much as some nodes could be destroyed during disasters, its implementation allows communication between existing nodes to take place. The disadvantage however that is associated with it is the complexity of implementation coupled with the fact that it is still prone to damage by natural disasters. In such cases as natural disaster occurrences it can however be used to restore other forms of communication (Takashi et al., 2005).
Optical communications
Optical photonic communication would introduce ultra high through put while ensuring low power consumption. It has also the advantage of minimal latencies and independency of capacity since it can support large traffic along large distances without losing its performance index (Ramaswami, & Carloni, 2002). These advantages allows performance that is not possible anywhere in any electronic interconnections
Photonic networks how ever have some limitations. Luckily these limitations can be solved by electronic computing. These limitations are processing and buffering. The time or the ability o process is limited as compared to other electronic interconnects. Computing devices can therefore be used to solve this problem as well as that of buffering (Shacham et al., 2007).
The components being discussed are mainly small in size. The ring resonators for example are less than 12µm in diameter. The 4×4 switch also have a small area estimated at 70µm×70µm. in all cases the components used are small in size resulting to a very small device (Shacham et al., 2007).
Reference
Takashi, Y., Owanda, O., Okada, H., & Mase K. (2005). A Wireless Mesh Network Testbed in Rural Mountain Areas. Japan: Niigata University.
Shacham, A., Bergen, K. & Carloni, L.C. (2007).The case of Low-power Photonic Networks on Chip.
New York, NY: Columbia University.
Ramaswami, R. & Sivarajan, K.N., (2002). Optical networks: A practical perspective. Morgan Kaufman.
