The topology you choose decides what the network can do before a single radio ships. Point-to-point gives you capacity and predictability. Point-to-multipoint gives you coverage and efficiency. Mesh and MANET give you mobility and resilience. Pick the wrong one and you are fighting the architecture for the life of the deployment. Most real networks are hybrids, and knowing where each belongs is the whole job.
We break down the tradeoffs across capacity, latency, range, and complexity, and why “mesh” and MANET are not the same thing when your assets actually move. A haul truck, a drone, an autonomous vehicle cannot run on a system built for stationary devices, and a network that reconverges in seconds is a network that already dropped the connection. Then we get to the ground, where every reliable link actually starts. Trees grow, buildings go up, and flat terrain throws reflections that kill a link with clear line of sight.
A link that looks good on paper and fails in the field is always a survey problem. Survey first, design second.
Download the slides to see how →
