airport time capsule mesh network

Although any of the 802.11n or 802.11ac AirPort base stations can be "added" to mesh system, they cannot integrate with them. That is, the cannot be configured to be another node of that mesh network. You can still use them if connected, by Ethernet, to a mesh node (that provides an Ethernet port), for things like AirPlay (the AirPort Express) or Time Machine (the Time Capsule).

The bottom line is the AirPort base stations are a pre-mesh type wireless network. They can only wirelessly extend another AirPort base station, via a wireless connection between them. Also they work in a wheel-like method, with the "main" base station at the hub of this wheel, and any extending base stations placed along the spokes. They cannot be daisy-chained to cover a longer distance.

If wireless coverage is critical to you, you will want to consider eventually replacing your base stations with a mesh solution from another manufacturer, especially since Apple got out of the networking hardware business over two years ago.

Tesserax is correct however the Ethernet backhaul capability of the airport routers enabled them to form a “quasi” mesh network before anyone knew what that was. I discovered this while setting up an extensive network at my workplace. If you connect multiple Airports via Ethernet and have sufficient overlap, you will have a true roaming network with a strong signal in each “zone”. Most homes do not have the luxury of an extensive Ethernet network but if you have multiple Airports, you can connect them with power line adapters. If you do this however, be sure that each one creates it’s own network with the same SSID as the main base station and not extend the network.