802.11s based multi-radio multi-channel mesh networking for fractionated spacecraft

802.11s is a new IEEE standard for mesh networking. It defines the protocols needed to build mobile ad hoc networks that operate over 802.11a, b, g and n waveforms running on inexpensive, and high performance commercial WiFi stations. We have developed a new capability to add to the 802.11s that uses multiple directional radio links that can operate simultaneously within a single mesh node. This is the basis of our multi-channel multi-radio mesh network used in the DARPA F6 program called F6Net. We have developed an analysis and emulation facility that lets us model the F6Net and evaluate the performance in a real world experimentation setup. This paper presents an “Over-the-Air” experimentation testbed that uses standard Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) 2.4GHz WiFi dongles in an indoor environment, and a shared-code simulation testbed that uses hardware simulated drivers within NS3's channel simulation facility to test 80211s network. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that provides a comprehensive evaluation platform with a full-fledged COTS hardware/software prototype to evaluate 802.11s network. Furthermore, we explain the design and development of multi-radio mesh extension for 802.11s that yields a robust and scalable mesh network suitable for clusters of LEO satellites.