Abstract
The proliferation of digital educational resources necessitates robust and affordable campus networking solutions, particularly in emerging economies where infrastructural and budgetary constraints are pronounced. Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) present a viable alternative to traditional wired backhauls; however, their efficacy is critically dependent on the underlying routing protocol’s ability to provide resilient connectivity without incurring prohibitive costs. This study presents an empirical evaluation of the BATMAN-adv (Better Approach to Mobile Ad-hoc Networking – advanced) routing protocol, deployed within the production network of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. Employing a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, we integrated quantitative data from NS3 simulations and physical network deployments with qualitative insights from interviews with IT administrators. Our findings demonstrate that a multi-path redundancy architecture, facilitated by BATMAN-adv, achieved 99.9% operational uptime with a mean failover time of 1.5 seconds during simulated link failures. This performance substantially surpassed dual-gateway (99.8% uptime, 3.2s failover) and non-redundant (92.5% uptime) architectures. Crucially, this carrier-class resilience was delivered at an estimated 90% reduction in capital expenditure compared to proprietary alternatives, leveraging commodity hardware and the protocol’s decentralized design. The study concludes that BATMAN-adv is a pragmatically superior routing solution for institutions where fiscal constraint and operational reliability are paramount, effectively bridging the gap between theoretical network models and tangible, sustainable deployment.
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