Hitchhiker's Guide to Wireless Mesh Networks
Friends & Subscribers,
Some years ago, a certain Mr. Douglas Adams wrote a famous book, called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
In this book, a certain Arthur Dent wakes up to discover that a bulldozer is about to knock down his house. Why? Because people are dashing from point A to point B very fast, but still need to go faster. And his house is in the way.
Surely you have experienced this, too.
In your factory, some packets of data dash from point A to point B very fast, while other packets dash from point B to point A very fast.
Packets residing at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many packets from point B are so keen to get there, and what's so great about point B that so many packets from point A are so keen to get there.
They often wish that packets would just once and for all work out where they wanted to be.
Now let's say that your boss, Mr. Man, wants packets at point D. Point D isn't anywhere in particular, it's just some convenient point a very long way from points A, B and C. He would have a nice little DCS system at point D, with racks of thermocouples and flow sensors.
Mr. Man hopes to spend some pleasant hours reclining at point E, which is the management lounge.
Now in the days of yesteryear, Mr. Man would make you hire a fleet of bulldozers to knock down houses and walls and cement walls, to build a Bypass to points D and E.
A certain McArthur Drent may object to you knocking down his office to build that bypass.
"It's not as if it's a particularly nice office," you say.
"I'm sorry, but I happen to like it," he says.
"You'll like the bypass," you say.
Feeling your oats a little bit, you get stern with Mr. Drent: "Some factual information for you, Mr. Drent. Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?"
"How much?" asks McArthur Drent.
"None at all," you say.
And you proceed to build your bypass, and lay your conduit and cable. Mr. Man can now conveniently access his DCS data from the Management Lounge.
Ah, but that was then... This is now.
Now is the age of the Wireless Mesh Network, where packets dash from point A to point B and back, very fast, and if the signal is a little weak, you add point C, in-between. And yes, packets at point C will often be given to wonder what's so great about points A and B, but they will dutifully relay the data back and forth. And if Mr. Man wants packets to be sent at point D, and he wants to receive them at point E (which happens to be the Management Lounge) you can just drop some extra nodes there and Mr. Man can have packets anywhere he wants them.
Now up until recently, Wireless Mesh networks have been the stuff of fanciful trade show exhibits and beta tests, not something you could actually go out and buy and use. The bulldozer still reigned supreme.
But fiction is becoming reality. You don't have to get stern with Mr. Drent, Mr. Drent gets to keep his office, and Mr. Man can view his data from the comfort of the Management Lounge. Plus you can set all this up in a few hours, not days or weeks.
The dazzling new technology that make all this possible is on our website, you can see them here:
http://www.bb-europe.com/wireless_mesh_networks.asp?s=ee051205
You can also read stories of real installations. Like, for example, a Mr. Man known to his terrestrial earth-creatures as Lloyd Pentecost at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California. (On earth, splitting atoms to create electrical energy is still considered a cumbersome, complicated enterprise.) He wanted to get packets from motors without threatening Mr. Drent's office with a Bulldozer. Read about that here:
http://www.bb-europe.com/wireless_mesh_network_stories.asp?s=ee051205
Recently one of my apps engineers came back from a steel mill, installing wireless mesh networks in a blast furnace, which is just about the most hellish location one can find on our blue-green planet. (In a future e-connections I'll tell you the story of how the data packets not only survived, but thrived. Stay tuned.)
And speaking of blue-green planets, the life forms on planet earth are so amazingly primitive that they still think wireless communication networks are still a thing of the far-flung future.
So on May 24-25 in London, we're going to be showing off our wares - at the Wireless Connectivity World Expo. WiCon Expo is a place where vendors show off their neat new inventions, hoping to get these white pieces of paper called purchase orders from the carbon-based life forms who come to see these neat new inventions. See our Wireless Mesh systems at WiCon: http://www.wiconworld.com/2005/. You'll find us at stand #434 with our friends from Sensicast Systems.
Do stop by and see us there. And hey, if you'd like to buy us a drink at the show, then go right ahead and do that. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy does mention alcohol: It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
It says that the effect of drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.
So if you want to buy one, go right ahead. But I also think Heinekin will also do just fine.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Mike Fahrion
B&B Electronics
support@bb-europe.com
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