Network Topology

The Mesh Network

Mesh networks are very different from the others here. They allow the structure of the network to fit the physical and data needs of the organisation. They pass information differently too.

The complete message to be sent will be broken up into a sequence of packets each containing source and destination addresses and a sequence number. These packets will be transmitted from node to node by whatever routes are free. They will probably arrive at their destination out of sequence because of the different routes taken. The receiving node will reassemble the packets into order before extracting the data. Note that in a message switching network a complete message is transmitted in one go.

This requires a sender to destination link to be established before the transmission can begin. Packet switching offers a more flexible approach and allows the traffic to be more evenly spread over the network.

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