The task is to create a large (up to 10k nodes) ad-hoc wireless network covering the area of several sq. km, so there is a need for many retransmission hops. The nodes are not moving; however the network should be able to reconfigure itself once a node is added or deleted. The communication in the network is always initiated by a single dedicated master. The master needs to collect the information (~100 bytes) from the each node once in a while, however it is desired that the whole network could be polled in the time of 15 minutes. Power consumption does matter; that rules out the 802.11x.
I am looking for the module level solution which would allow to implement this network with the minimum hassle. Designing the networking protocols is something that I would really like to avoid.
The candidate technology could be ZigBee; however I have big doubts about the scalability to 10k nodes. There are some proprietary and semi-proprietary solutions on the market; however it looks like they never tested it with more then 20...30 nodes.
Can you suggest a more or less proven solution for that type of application?
Vladimir Vassilevsky DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant