Patent ID: 8306041

Claim:
A wireless mesh network comprising: at least one access node transmitting first routing packets; at least one gateway estimating an upstream link quality based on reception of the first routing packets, wherein the upstream link quality is determined by determining what percentage of first routing packets are successfully received by the at least one gateway; the at least one gateway transmitting second routing packets, wherein the second routing packets include the upstream link quality; the at least one access node receiving the second routing packets from the gateway, the at least one access node selecting a routing path to the gateway based at least partially upon the upstream link quality of a link between the at least one gateway and the at least one access node; and multi-hop access nodes that are more than one hop away from the at least one gateway, the multi-hop access nodes receiving routing packets from upstream access nodes; wherein the at least one access node repopulates beacons lost in reception, ensuring that the at least one access node transmits the same set number of routing packets per unit of time.