On the throughput evaluation of wireless mesh network deployed in disaster areas

Abstract

After disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, the network infrastructures might be extremely damaged or destroyed while Internet connection becomes much more necessary. Therefore, deploying networks in disaster areas has received much attention especially after the great earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011. Among many kinds of networks, Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is considered as one of the most suitable solutions because it can easily configure a network without any wired infrastructure. In our national project on disaster recovery network, we attempt to build a WMN connecting remaining routers (i.e., the routers that remain functional after the disaster) by using a Movable and Deployable Resource Unit (MDRU) as a base station, which has processing servers, storage servers, and Internet connectivity. However, in order to have a good network design, many experiments such as simulations need to be done beforehand. In this paper, we provide an adequate throughput evaluation of the deployed network with many configurations, which are close to reality. The results demonstrate that the network can, at the same time, provide basic Internet access to a significantly large population of users.