Lessons learned from the deployment of a multihop IEEE 802.11g testbed using COTS devices

Abstract

A lot of attention has been given to multihop wireless networks lately, but further research is needed. This attention has motivated an increase in the number of 802.11-based deployments, both indoor and outdoor. These testbeds are used to run measurements in order to analyze and understand the limitation and differences between analytical or simulation-based figures and the results from real-life experimentation. In this paper we describe the lessons learned from the deployment of a wireless multihop testbed under the false floor of a laboratory in our Computer Science building. We assess the radio shielding provided by the false floor panels, and run exhaustive and controlled experiments to analyze the performance limits of commercial off-the-shelf hardware. The results obtained confirm that experimental measurements can severely deviate from the expected theoretical values.