Developing Mobile Peer-to-Peer Networks

Dec. 2 -- Can you hear me now?

For cell-phone users, that simple question often points to one of the most frustrating things about cell phones or any other wireless communication network — the hassles of maintaining a connection to a central and often distant transmitter.

While that can be maddening for cell-phone users, the situation can be even worse for mobile workers who are increasingly switching to wireless 802.11, or Wi-Fi, data networks.

As some Wi-Fi users know from experience, the quality of wireless connections between computers and so-called access points, or APs, can vary greatly.

A Wi-Fi PC in a home living room, for example, might have no trouble connecting to an AP in the den. But a Wi-Fi laptop in the kitchen might not connect because of the pipes in the walls that separate the room from the den.

So several companies are working on new schemes called "mesh networking" that might ease the aggravation. And one start-up company, PacketHop in Belmont; Calif., has hashed out a particularly interesting way to form these mobile meshes.

Making a Mesh of Things

PacketHop's technology is a set of specialized software that can be embedded into mobile devices and wireless network transmitters. The computer code allows each device within the wireless network — whether a cell phone, laptop, handheld computer — to act as a "node," or relay point, and to route digital data along to other compatible devices nearby.

Data bounces, or "hops," from one device to another until it reaches the device that requested the information. If a node becomes unavailable due to interference or other problems, other nearby devices can pick up the slack in relaying the bits of data.