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Mesh networking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes. It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by "hopping" from node to node until the destination is reached. A mesh network whose nodes are all connected to each other is a fully connected network. Mesh networking is a subclass of mobile ad hoc networking (MANET). Mesh networks are self-healing: the network can still operate even when a node breaks down or a connection goes bad. As a result, a very reliable network is formed. This concept is applicable to wireless networks, wired networks, and software interaction. A mesh network is a networking technique which allows inexpensive peer network nodes to supply back haul services to other nodes in the same network. It effectively extends a network by sharing access to higher cost network infrastructure. Mesh networks differ from other networks in that the component parts can all connect to each other via multiple hops, and they generally are not mobile. An MIT project developing Children's Machines for under-privileged schools in developing nations plans to use mesh networking to create a robust and inexpensive infrastructure for the students who will receive the laptops. The instantaneous connections made by the laptops are claimed by the project to reduce the need for an external infrastructure such as the internet to reach all areas, because a connected node could share the connection with nodes nearby. The same MIT technology that will be used on the £100 laptops is available for use on netgear/x86/Meraki nodes. See roofnet. In Cambridge, UK, on the 3rd June 2006, mesh networking was used at the "Strawberry Fair" to run mobile live television, radio and internet services to an estimated 80,000 people. The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) project is developing mesh networking software based on open source implementations of the Hazy-Sighted Link State Routing Protocol and Expected Transmission Count metric.
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