How do Mesh Radios / Nodes work?

So, how can radios of different power operate in a Mesh?

The default power within the mesh will be determined by the lower power radios.

Take the example of six dismounted officers using 250mw Mesh radios / nodes to communicate among themselves, and to their Command vehicle, which has a 2W Node/Radio. When the 250mW radio is talking to the 2W radio, in transmit mode, it is using its 250mW amplifier to transmit across the network, and the other radios, when in receive mode, are receiving that 250mW transmission when they are within RF range of the transmission. This includes the 2W radio on the Command vehicle, in receive mode.

When the 2W radio on the Command vehicle is in transmit mode its range is obviously much greater than the 250mw radios in the same network and, when within range, all of these radios can receive the transmission from the 2w radio. Every radio in the network must be able to both transmit and receive to be an operational radio and, therefore, must be within range of at least one other radio in the network. So, in this scenario, you have an effective 250mW network.

The higher power of the 2W radio only provides an advantage when it is communicating with another 2W, or higher power, radio. This would be a good design when you have multiple vehicles, or vessels, operating in a wide theatre and the Commanders in each vehicle or vessel need situational awareness of conditions in the whole theatre of operation.

The theatre of operation could be small teams of covert operatives following a target in a city-centre scenario, communicating to a covert command vehicle; or it could be a Naval boarding party deploying on a RIB to inspect a suspect vessel, while communicating with the mother ship; or it could be multiple Counter-Terrorist teams surrounding an incident and needing communications across a wide area.