Probing method for a multi-station network

摘要

The invention relates to a method of operating a communication network, the network comprising a plurality of stations (A to O) which are able to transmit data to and receive data from one another. The method comprises defining a first probing channel for the transmission of probe signals to other stations. Other stations which receive the first probe signals from a probing station indicate to the probing station their availability as destination or intermediate stations. A neighbor table comprising details of these other available stations is maintained at each station. Also, second probe signals are sent and received from stations in the neighbor table and a gradient table comprising data related to the cost of communicating with each neighbor station is maintained at each station, thereby to allow each station to select a predetermined number of intermediate stations for onward transmission of data from an originating station (A) to a destination station (O) at minimum cost. <IMAGE>