The change came as Itron's research group in Paris realized it could exploit inexpensive new wireless chips and open-source software to create a so-called mesh network of electric meters that passed information among themselves, like firemen in a bucket brigade, instead of relying on expensive and less reliable individual connections to the Internet.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The big idea: putting sensors everywhere that communicate in a mesh network and allow real-time tracking and optimization of everything from traffic to the power grid to the water supply.

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Also important, this processing power combined with advanced digital radio interface and signaling capabilities enables small-cell base stations to operate in a more efficient and dynamic mesh network, as opposed to a relatively static, point-to-point macro only system.

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In the very near future, the North American power grid will be populated by a bewildering array of distributed energy resources ranging from building-integrated solar photovoltaics and micro-cogen to intelligent control systems and mesh network lighting.

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Going deeper down the rabbit hole, Radiator Labs is exploring some nifty technologies such as an Xbee mesh network, which it's using to evaluate the energy-saving benefits at play.

ENGADGET

Wi-Fi uses a number of smaller antennas, called "nodes, " to build a mesh network.

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Once equipped with mesh-enabled devices, soldiers fanning out on a field or firefighters in a burning building could create an impromptu network, automatically transmitting communications from person to person until returning back to commanders.

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