ESP MESH limitaiton of nodes around root node

[Ankit53]

Hi ESP team,

I have gone through ESP WiFi MESH specification, I have one query about network efficiency.

If >50 nodes are kept around root node, does it make any issue to communication and network stability?
Meanwhile if one node of root node has left the network how other node will start switching to connect with root node?
How much time it will take for >50 devices to heal the network?

Thank You,
Ankit Siddhapura

[ESP_yudong]

Hi Ankit,
We have done some tests on 100 and 200 nodes in close proximity.

• The default configuration of network such as assoc_expire may not be appropriate, users should set it themselves.
• The throught can be affected by the environment.
• The network could become stable.
• The healing time is affected by the network configuration. It can be as short as one minute on 100 nodes.

[Ankit53]

Thank you this information really worth!

If parent switching happens at very fast rate!

Have you ever came across scenario like node N1 is connected to soft-AP1 and after switching connecting to soft-AP2.
Meanwhile still soft-AP1 shows node N1 entry in its station list. In this case esp_wifi_internal_tx API goes fail between N1 and AP1.

Regards,
Ankit Siddhapura

[ESP_yudong]

Have you ever came across scenario like node N1 is connected to soft-AP1 and after switching connecting to soft-AP2.
Meanwhile still soft-AP1 shows node N1 entry in its station list. In this case esp_wifi_internal_tx API goes fail between N1 and AP1.

Yes, If soft-AP1 didn't receive the disassociation frame when N1 leave, soft-AP1 will takes longer time to remove N1 from its station list.
When parent switching happens, the network also needs time to detect the change and refresh routing table. Usually no more than a few seconds.

If the parent switching happens frequently, you should check the distribution of nodes and set a more reasonable network configuration.

[Ankit53]

Thanks You!