Multi-band communications in a wireless mesh network

A node comprising

• a first physical layer comprising a first radio configured to communicate with a second node over a first communications band;
• a second physical layer comprising a second radio configured to communicate with the second node over a second communications band;
• a media-access control layer (MAC) layer serviced by both the first physical layer and the second physical layer, wherein the first radio and the second radio have a common MAC address;
• a processor configured to execute computer-readable instructions;
• a memory configured to store the computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• connecting to the second node by way of the first communications band and the second communications band, wherein the node is configured to communicate with the second node over both the first communications band and the second communications band;
• identifying a message for transmission to the second node;
• determining that the second node is capable of receiving the message by way of the first communications band and is capable of receiving the message by way of the second communications band;
• and
• dynamically selecting the first communications band, from the first communications band and the second communications band, to use to transmit the message to the second node;
• and
• transmitting, by the node, the message to the second node over the first communications band using the first radio.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied thereon, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method for communicating between nodes of a wireless mesh network, comprising:

• connecting, by a node, to a second node in the wireless mesh network by way of a first communications band and a second communications band, wherein the node is configured to communicate with the second node over both the first communications band and the second communications band;
• identifying, by the node, a message for transmission to the second node;
• determining, by the node, that the second node is capable of receiving the message by way of the first communications band and is capable of receiving the message by way of the second communications band;
• and
• dynamically determining, by the node, a selected communications band, from the first communications band and the second communications band, to use to transmit the message to the second node over the wireless mesh network;
• and
• transmitting, by the node, the message to the second node over the selected communications band.