MPMobVis: Mesh Potato Mobile Network Visualization, Monitoring and Provisioning

Wireless Mesh Networks are dynamic, self-configuring networks that have emerged as a communications alternative to wired and traditional wireless networks in areas where there is limited and, often, unreliable infrastructure, such as rural areas, developing countries, and disaster zones. The dynamic nature of such networks necessitates the need for effective management tools to assist in the management of these networks. Hence, research in the area of monitoring, provisioning, and visualization of Wireless Mesh Networks is needed. The Mesh Potato Mobile Network Visualization, Monitoring and Provisioning (MPMobVis) project aims to provide network Monitoring, Provisioning, and Visualization tools, on a mobile phone, to contribute towards research in this field. Using a mobile phone as the development platform is ideal due to the ubiquity of such devices in developing communities, as well as their increased mobility compared to less mobile devices such as laptops. A mobile phone running the MPMobVis application would allow a network manager to manage a Wireless Mesh Network while in the area of the network. Our particular focus is the design of a mobile Visualization tool to assist in the task of network manage-ment. Thus, our research question is to investigate to what extent the visualization of a mobile phone can be achieved on a mobile phone. In answering this question, a set of user experiments with network experts wa