Something interesting I noticed while reading the paper Link-level Measurements from an 802.11b Mesh Network, which basically discussed possible reasons for link loss rates in MIT's wireless mesh network, Roofnet. One of the strange things I noticed was how inconclusive the results were, the authors stated: "The large number of links with intermediate loss rates is probably due to multi-path fading rather than attenuation or interference."
Not only were the conclusions somewhat inconclusive, the paper as a whole never proposed any solutions to a problem. In fact, the purpose of the paper was to "contribute to an understanding of the reasons for intermediate-quality links." The fact that this alone is a significant contribution to studying wireless networks shows how early researchers are in understanding the nuances of wireless networks.
Although some of the references in the paper date back to experiments with wireless networks in the mid-nineties, the work in this paper shows how little is known about how wireless networks truly work and how best to measure link loss rates or return trip times. This will be interesting to note as I proceed with my wireless research.
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