Wireless mesh point portable data terminal

A terminal comprising:

• a microcontroller;
• at least one wireless communications interface;
• a transceiver
• a mesh point module in communication with the transceiver and configured to transmit frames of data over a wireless mesh network,
• wherein the frames of data include a header with a frame control field, the frame control field comprising power management data, and
• wherein the power management data in the frame control field transitions the terminal from a sleep state to an awake state.

A system for transmitting data across a network, the system comprising;

• a plurality of peer data terminals in communication with each other and forming a wireless mesh network, wherein each peer data terminal comprises:
• a microcontroller;
• at least one wireless communications interface;
• a transceiver;
• and
• a mesh point module in communication with the transceiver and configured to transmit frames of the data over the wireless mesh network;
• an access point connected to at least one of the peer data terminals on the network and providing a gateway for transmitting the frames of data to an external network,
• wherein said at least one of the peer data terminals is configured to transition to a sleep state for a period of inactivity, and
• wherein the mesh point module of said at least one peer data terminal remains operational during the sleep state to receive data for transmitting to either another peer data terminal or the access point.