Communication System Architecture
TrellisWare’s software-defined radio architectures feature breakthrough advancements in Physical Layer (PHY) performance across the widest range of environments as well as fundamentally more robust media access control (MAC)/networking approaches specifically targeted to accomplish large scale mobile mesh networking. While we discuss each individually, optimizing both the PHY and MAC/network layers are necessary to deliver multimedia IP streaming across multiple hops in a mobile mesh environment. The solution starts with a better PHY.
Building a Better PHY
The key to mobile mesh networking is designing a PHY that can maintain connectivity across the widest range of operating conditions. TrellisWare’s PHY designs employ advanced constant envelope waveforms for robustness to nonlinearities (amplifiers, limiters, etc.) and abrupt changes in received amplitude due to dynamics, frequency hopping, modern error correction, and AID receiver processing. While this type of trellis-based processing is widely acknowledged as being the most robust method of receive processing, it had never been successfully implemented due to its processing complexity. TrellisWare solved this problem, achieving PHY performance results that don’t have to heavily rely on retransmission to achieve data throughput quality of service.
Combine this with a dense TDMA timing sequence and advanced blind channel interference mitigation techniques, and the result is a PHY that both understands its environment and takes advantage of every aspect of it. TrellisWare’s DNA PHY provides exceptional robustness and operating range by capitalizing on multiple sources of diversity and combining the energy from each source. This has the added benefit of enabling individual units to operate at low power by combining multipath at the receiver.
Optimizing the MAC/Networking Layer
It has also been widely acknowledged throughout the industry that the only way to achieve true mobile mesh networking is to design the networking layer to work cooperatively with the PHY layer. TrellisWare has done exactly that. The DNA PHY features utilized to implement cooperative diversity in transmission through the network also provide multiple route diversity for information traffic. This cooperative diversity and decode-and-forward processing form a tight coupling between the PHY and MAC.
Implementing fully distributed control that is agnostic to instantaneous network topologies, DNA has several potential advantages, such as enabling cooperation between nodes without handshaking or hub-and-spoke forming protocols. It allows nodes to join the network seamlessly with low-latency and facilitates the ability of multiple networks to merge or split as the mission and network topology dictate. DNA provides true mobile mesh flexibility by operating independently from latency-adding Layer 3 applications that are typically employed to route information throughout a network.
The result – Software Defined Mobile Mesh Network Communications Products
Robustness is important. Flexibility is important. Scalability is important. Triple play voice, video and IP data handling is important. Being able to implement all of these features on low cost hardware is vital.
TrellisWare’s TW-Series products offer all of these features. Utilizing the latest WiFi and cellular components, TrellisWare is developing a family of software defined networking communication products that implement the DNA architecture in very low cost, low power designs. For more information on TrellisWare’s TW-Series products, see our Wireless Networking Products Page or contact us to discuss your specific needs.
