Node location selection of wireless mesh networks

1. A method comprising:

obtaining locations available for placing nodes of a wireless mesh network, wherein the locations include at least a longitude, a latitude, and an elevation;

for pairs of available locations,

looking up two-dimensional locations of possible obstructions between a pair of available locations;

identifying candidate obstructions from the possible obstructions based on the two-dimensional locations of the possible obstructions and two-dimensional locations of the pair of available locations;

estimating a reference height associated with a shortest distance between a segment between the pair of available locations and a three-dimensional location of the candidate obstructions;

determining a distance between a point on the segment as defined by the reference height and the three-dimensional location of the possible obstructions; and

identifying the pair of available locations as having a line-of-sight wireless link based on the determined distance of the candidate obstructions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the pair of available locations as having a line-of-sight wireless link based on the determined distance of the possible obstructions includes identifying the pair of available locations as having the line-of-sight wireless link if the determined distance for the candidate obstructions is greater than a reference radius.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying candidate obstructions from the possible obstructions based on the two-dimensional locations of the possible obstructions and the two-dimensional locations of the pair of available locations further comprises:

identifying two-dimensional coverage areas of the possible obstructions; and

identifying the candidate obstructions as possible obstructions that have two-dimensional coverage areas that overlap a two-dimensional approximation of a line-of-sight between the pair of available locations.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein if the two-dimensional coverage areas do not overlap with the two-dimensional approximation of the line-of-sight between the pair of available locations, then facilitating the identifying the pair of available locations as having the line-of-sight wireless link.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising first selecting node placements for the pair of available locations based on a number of line-of-sight wireless links associated with the pair of available locations.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising the first selecting node placements for the pair of available locations that have greater than a threshold number of line-of-sight wireless links.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising the first selecting node placements for the pair of available locations have a greatest number of line-of-sight wireless links.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising the first selecting node placements for the pair of available locations for N of the pair of available locations that have a greatest number of line-of-sight wireless links.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

identifying stranded demand nodes from the first selecting node placements, wherein the stranded demand nodes have no line-of-sight wireless links; and

second selecting node placements from available nodes for providing line-of-sight wireless links to the stranded demand nodes.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising deploying the wireless mesh network comprising placing nodes of the wireless mesh network at the first selecting node placements and at the second selecting node placements.

11. A system comprising:

a system server, the system server operating to:

obtain locations available for placing nodes of a wireless mesh network, wherein the locations include at least a longitude, a latitude, and an elevation;

for pairs of available locations,

look up two-dimensional locations of possible obstructions between a pair of available locations;

identify candidate obstructions from the possible obstructions based on the two-dimensional locations of the possible obstructions and two-dimensional locations of the pair of available locations;

estimate a reference height associated with a shortest distance between a segment between the pair of available locations and a three-dimensional location of the candidate obstructions;

determine a distance between a point on the segment as defined by the reference height and the three-dimensional location of the possible obstructions; and

identify the pair of available locations as having a line-of-sight wireless link based on the determined distance of the candidate obstructions.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identify the pair of available locations as having the line-of-sight wireless link based on the determined distance of the possible obstructions includes identifying the pair of available locations as having the line-of-sight wireless link if the determined distance for the candidate obstructions is greater than a reference radius.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identify candidate obstructions from the possible obstructions based on the two-dimensional locations of the possible obstructions and the two-dimensional locations of the pair of available locations further comprises:

identifying two-dimensional coverage areas of the possible obstructions; and

identifying the candidate obstructions as possible obstructions that have the two-dimensional coverage areas that overlap a two-dimensional approximation of a line-of-sight between the pair of available locations.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein if the two-dimensional coverage areas do not overlap with the two-dimensional approximation of the line-of-sight between the pair of available locations, then facilitating the identify the pair of available locations as having the line-of-sight wireless link.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system server operating further operates to first select node placements for the pair of available locations based on a number of line-of-sight wireless links associated with the pair of available locations.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system server operating further operates to first select node placements for the pair of available locations that have greater than a threshold number of line-of-sight wireless links.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system server operating further operates to first select node placements for the pair of available locations that have a greatest number of line-of-sight wireless links.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system server operating further operates to first select node placements for the pair of available locations for N of the pair of available locations that have a greatest number of line-of-sight wireless links.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the system server operating further operates to:

identify stranded demand nodes from the first select node placements, wherein the stranded demand nodes have no line-of-sight wireless links; and

second select node placements from available nodes for providing-line-of-sight wireless links to the stranded demand nodes.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the system server operating further operates to deploy the wireless mesh network comprising placing nodes of the wireless mesh network at the first select node placements and at the second select node placements.