Deployment and Evaluation of Mesh Routing Protocols on Embedded Systems with Industrial Case Studies

Abstract

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are crucial for enabling communication without fixed infrastructure in various scenarios such as disaster response, rural connectivity, and educational experimentation. Although the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol is widely studied in the research community, practical deployment reports remain limited and fragmented. This paper presents a clear and reproducible methodology for deploying OLSR (using OLSRd, a routing daemon that installs and updates routes in the Linux kernel) on embedded Linux systems, namely OpenWRT running on Raspberry Pi 3B+ devices. In addition, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework is applied to evaluate four distinct routing protocols (OLSRd, BATMAN, Babel, and HWMP) based on usability, configuration complexity, GUI support, documentation quality, and hardware compatibility. Experimental tests are conducted to measure network performance in terms of latency, throughput, and convergence time. Four case studies are also presented to show protocol suitability in different contexts, including community networks, IoT deployments, disaster simulations, and industrial environments. The results conclusively show that OLSRd is the most deployment-friendly protocol, combining procedural simplicity with reliable performance. This study provides practical guidance and valuable technical references for researchers, educators, and practitioners working on wireless mesh testbeds with embedded platforms, ultimately aiming to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world application.