MeshNetworks - Newsroom - Media Coverage

MeshNetworks was founded Feb. 2000 by Milcom Technologies to commercialize wireless technology developed by ITT Industries (ITT) for the US Department of Defense. The company has received $1.6M in initial funding from Milcom, Patricof & Co. Ventures, and BancBoston Capital. ITT is also a shareholder and has contributed its Handheld Multimedia Terminal technology. An additional $10 million will be sought in July. The company has 14 employees.

MeshNetworks is developing a next generation wireless communication system Ad Hoc Quad-Division Multiple Access (Ad Hoc QDMA). Ad Hoc QDMA is a data-centric wireless communication system that provides multimedia services (voice, data, video, and location) to mobile personal Internet devices in campus, metropolitan, and regional environments. Ad Hoc QDMA achieves this through the use of patented IP-based peer-to-peer ad hoc networking and a high performance wireless modem. MeshNetworks' objective is to have its system deployed nationwide by the end of 2005.

Traditional wireless schemes rely on expensive wireless infrastructure-including base station transceiver, base station controllers, and cellular switches-to complete all wireless calls, including those between mobile subscribers that are in close proximity to each other. These network components are often overloaded and cannot respond to the request for service from a subscriber's wireless device as you've probably noticed at a large trade show.

Ad Hoc QDMA technology is based on an ad hoc mobile network, which reduces the expense and increases the success rate of mobile to mobile calls by eliminating the need for wireless infrastructure to complete the call. Key to the MeshNetworks' technology is patent 5,943,322 that describes a communications method for a CDMA system with out a base station.

Ad Hoc QDMA has its roots in the Handheld Multimedia Terminal (HMT) developed by the Aerospace/Communications Divisions of ITT Industries. ITT has, for the past several years, been developing ht HMT technology for the U.S. military. This technology was developed to support the simultaneous use of voice over IP, data and multimedia at high data rates in battlefield conditions with no infrastructure. The HMT technology allows each wireless terminal to function as an independent, intelligent router and repeater. Its ad hoc networking provides for a self-organizing and self-healing network structure.

Altogether, ITT and DOD have spent and plan to spend more than $150 million on this development work over a 9-year period. This technology exists today, and is demonstrable in prototype form. Field trial results have been exceptional in terms of the link robustness, data rate, and range, the quickness in self-organization and self-healing of the network, tolerance to mobility (demonstrated a helicopter speeds), voice quality of service, extensibility of the multi-hop capability, and preciseness of the position location application. MeshNetworks intends to build upon ITT's technology and will modify and extend it for use in its commercial Ad Hoc QDMA system.

Unlike traditional mobile to mobile calls which must pass through a base station, Ad Hoc QDMA allows for calls to route both voice and data through intermediate phones if necessary to reach the desired party. The ad-hoc network constantly updated to ensure the best path is always taken — should an intermediate nod fail, the network dynamically re-routes calls through other available nodes. This technology can be used to enable mobile-to-mobile access, and "last mile" high-speed Internet access, without the need for wireless infrastructure. It also has the capability to determine the location of an HMT wireless communications device more precisely than GPS and cellular tower based schemes.

Ad Hoc QDMA infrastructure equipment costs are 1/10^th those of conventional 2G and 3G cellular systems in a voice-only mode, and as the applications mix shifts toward data, this infrastructure cost advantage improves even more. For equivalent infrastructure and spectrum investments, Ad Hoc QDMA offers a 10x advantage in either coverage or capacity. Operations and maintenance costs are substantially less because the self-healing ad hoc nature of the network avoids costly quick-response cell site maintenance. Re-engineering costs in response to new construction and population shifts will be reduced as well.

Ad Hoc QDMA provides high data rates (6 Mbps peak) in 20 MHz of unlicensed spectrum. Subscriber devices can operate without any infrastructure, providing full multimedia services on a peer-to-peer basis, allowing many cell towers to be eliminated. It provides faster and more accurate position location than GPS, without the building penetration problems associated with GPS. Finally it is IP-based, providing an open application environment.

MeshNetworks' architecture is made up of 4 hardware and software elements: the Transceiver Module within a subscriber device, the Router, the Gateway, and the Gateway Controller.

The Transceiver Module is composed of a proprietary modem ASIC, a DSP, a micro-controller, RF circuitry, memory, and proprietary networking and link layer software. MeshNetworks has embedded two proprietary applications in this Module: Voice Over IP and position location. VoIP has been embedded to ensure that Ad Hoc QDMA voice performance exceeds that of cellular and approaches that of wired phones.

The Router can be mounted on light poles, utility poles, and rooftops to provide RF range extension and routes around obstructions so that the Ad Hoc QDMA network can supply a high degree of coverage for Subscriber Devices throughout an area. The Gateway is the transition point from the subscriber side of the network to the backbone. Subscriber Devices may connect directly to Gateways to in turn connect with a destination Subscriber Device through the Internet, PSTN, or other network. Gateways are designed to support a maximum of 2000 subscribers.

The Gateway Controller provides call control across MeshNetworks' Gateways and between the Ad Hoc QDMA network and other networks such as the Internet and the PSTN. It also provides Operations, Administration, Management, & Provisioning (OAM&P) services to the Ad Hoc QDMA network. One Gateway Controller can support as many as 200 Gateways.

MeshNetworks will develop custom ICs, software, and designs to implement all Ad Hoc QDMA elements. The company plans to manufacture Routers, Gateways, and Gateway Controllers and to license their custom ICs and software to infrastructure equipment manufacturers. Alpha product is scheduled for September 2000. the company does not have any direct competitors, however, in the future it will compete with 3G cellular infrastructure providers.

Masood Garahi, CEO (formerly the CTO of TV Guide's TV Games Division. Prior to joining TV Guide, he was Senior VP and CTO at Skytel (which is now part of MCI Worldcom).

Richard Licursi, VP of Corporate Development (He was the interim CEO until recently. Formerly president and CEO of Phoenix Wireless Group, which was acquired by Excel Switching)

Peter Stanforth, CTO (formerly VP at the Excel Switching Division of Lucent and co-founder, VP, and CTO at Phoenix Wireless Group)

Larry Koos, Acting VP of Engineering (formerly Executive VP of Koos Technical Services (KTS), an engineering services firm specializing in Wireless Communications)

William Elkington, VP, Product Management (formerly Senior Program Manager at ITT Industries)

Eric Whitehill, Director of Network Software (formerly a Senior Staff Engineer at ITT Industries)

Glen Gray, Director of Gateway Controller Development (formerly Director of Terrestrial Network Development at Iridium)

Donald Rasmussen, Staff Scientist (formerly responsible for the development of Handheld Multimedia Terminal (HMT) burst packet, direct sequence modem and RF subsystem at ITT)

For more information on how to purchase our products,
please contact us at sales@meshnetworks.com

TECHNOLOGY • APPLICATIONS • PRODUCTS • ABOUT US • NEWSROOM • PARTNERS
SUPPORT • FAQ • CONTACT US • LEGAL NOTICE