Adhoc IBSS Configuration

Question

With a normal Wi-Fi network, if one wireless device wants to talk another wireless device it has to go through the AP (Access Point).
In an infrastructure BSS, every device is connected to an AP.
In an IBSS (Independent BSS) network every device works as equal peer, with no need for an AP, because it's peer to peer, right?

Suppose I have three PC's: A, B, and C. A and B are in range of each other, and B and C are in range of each other, but A and C are not directly in range of each other. Can A talk to C via B in IBSS?

How can I set up an IBSS network?

How would it be set up on Windows or Linux?

Answer 1

Yes, in a normal infrastructure BSS, the AP provides a service called "Intra-BSS Relay" by which it forwards traffic from one wireless client to another in order to avoid the "hidden node problem", where two clients are each in range of the AP, but they aren't in range of each other, so they can't talk to each other (if it weren't for the Intra-BSS Relay service provided by the AP). By doing this, the AP basically doubles the diameter of the network, but it comes at the cost of wireless-to-wireless throughput because wireless-to-wireless transmissions have to go across the same shared channel twice (once "To the AP", and once "From the AP").

An IBSS (a.k.a. an "ad hoc" 802.11 network) has no AP. But the peers in an IBSS don't to Intra-BSS Relay, so you have the hidden node problem. In your example scenario, node A cannot talk to node C in an IBSS, because B is not an AP so it's not providing the Intra-BSS Relay service.