Untethered access point mesh system and method

摘要

A technique for implementing an untethered access point (UAP) mesh involves enabling AP-local switching at one or more UAPs of the mesh. A system constructed according to the technique may include a wireless switch; an access point (AP) wire-coupled to the wireless switch; and a UAP mesh, wirelessly coupled to the AP, including a UAP with an AP-local switching engine embodied in a computer-readable medium. Another system constructed according to the technique may include an untethered access point (UAP), including: a radio; a backhaul service set identifier (SSID) stored in a computer-readable medium; an anchor access point (AAP) selection engine embodied in a computer-readable medium. In operation, the AAP selection engine may use the radio to attempt to associate with the AAP if a beaconed backhaul SSID matches the stored backhaul SSID. A method according to the technique may include beaconing with a backhaul SSID; acting in concert with an upstream switch as an authenticator for a downstream station that responds to the beacon; providing limited local switching functionality for the downstream station.

主权项

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a first untethered access point (UAP) configured to be included within a UAP mesh, the first UAP configured to be operatively coupled to an access point (AP) operatively coupled to a wireless switch; the first UAP including a switching engine embodied in a computer-readable medium, the switching engine configured to send a first station switching record received at a first time from the wireless switch to a second UAP from the UAP mesh, the second UAP enabled to switch traffic locally based on the station switching record, the switching engine configured to receive a second station switching record when a new path is available.