community mesh networks status 2012

Community Mesh Networks

Status 2012

Sebastian Büttrich, [email protected]

NSRC / IT University of Copenhagen

Last edit: February 2012, ICTP Trieste

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

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Agenda

I was asked to present a case study –

but so much is changing in and around community mesh networks

That I will change my agenda

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Agenda

‣ A timeline and historical perspective of community mesh networks

‣ What has changed over the last decade?

‣ Relevant developments in community mesh networks, 2012

‣ A case study from 2008 / revisited

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Timeline

‣ 2002 Freifunk, Germany http://www.freifunk.net

‣ 2002 Djursland, Denmark

‣ 2003 Funkfeuer, Austria http://www.funkfeuer.at

‣ 2004 Guifi, Spain, http://guifi.net

‣ 2005 CuWin Champaign Urbana, USA

‣ 2005 Peebles Valley, South Africa

http://www.freifunk.net/

http://www.funkfeuer.at/

http://guifi.net/

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Timeline

‣ 2005 Dharamsala, India, http://airjaldi.com

‣ 2005 Ghana Wireless

‣ 2006 Linknet Zambia

‣ 2008 Sengerema Telecenter, Tanzania

… this is neither complete nor unbiased - find more here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_community_networks_by_region

a look back in time:

http://airjaldi.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_community_networks_by_region

Mesh cases

• Community network started in Berlin/Germany, to fill a gap in broadband (DSL/Fiber) access

Now there is almost no gaps anymore ...

• Home of the Freifunk Firmware

• Number of Nodes: 500+ Berlin, many more with several 100s

The Freifunk movement

Mesh casesThe Freifunk movement

180 nodes (Oct 2005)this = graphviz visualization

Mesh casesCuWin / USA


Mesh casesDharamsala / India


• Using Linksys WRT54G with OpenWRT firmware

• Using OLSR with ETX

• Connecting non-profit organizations

• Developed by Dharamsala Information Technology Group / TibTec

Mesh casesPeebles Valley, Mpumalanga, South Africa

• Meraka Institute, CSIR Pretoria

• Using FreifunkFirmware

• < 10 nodes right now, but growing

• First node was the Aids care training and support (ACTS) clinic

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Community mesh networks in 2012

Advice I would give a community network project today:

‣ 1) Lay fiber/cable if you can!

‣ 2) If you can not do fiber/cable, do wireless backbones and APs!

‣ 3) If you can not do 1) or 2), do mesh!

Open for discussion!

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What has changed since 2005?

‣ Lots of new (highly mobile!) devices

‣ The stationary desktop computer is disappearing

‣ More bandwidth needed

‣ Mobile data cheaper and more available

‣ Some of the "community" mesh companies went the wrong (evil) way (Meraki, Fonera)

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What has changed since 2005, technically?

‣ The Linksys WRT54 is no longer our "swiss army knife"

‣ OLSR is no longer our one and only choice for routing

‣ Dual (multiple) bands, multiple radios

‣ 802.11n is everywhere

‣ 802.11s, long believed to be dead or inferior, seems to come back to life (OLPC, Google)

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One the other hand ...

‣ Ownership and freedom of networks more relevant than ever

‣ Mobile surveillance and shutdown in times of conflict, from USA to Germany to Egypt to Libya to … (insert your country here)

‣ New political momentum - from Egypt to Occupy (inspires projects like http://openmeshproject.org/, Commotion)

‣ Facebook and Google privacy disasters create support for community owned structures

http://openmeshproject.org/

What to watch in mesh 2012

What to watch in mesh 2012People's data, WSN, citizen scientists

What to watch in mesh 2012

… and here's the case study,

Sengerema, Tanzania2008

Case study:Sengerema TelecenterShared Mesh Network

On behalf of the Sengerema team: Sebastian Büttrich, wire.less.dk

edit: February 2009 @ ICTP

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Mesh casesSengerema, Tanzania

• Sengerema Telecenter• Part of Tanzania Telecenter Network

(TTN)• First shared mesh network in Tanzania• Supported by IICD (Netherlands)

Sengerema MeshBackground

• Sengerema multi-purpose Telecenter: computer services, printing, office, internet, education, FM Radio Station (reach 400,000 people) etc

• Has internet connection - VSAT 128/64 kbps through COSTECH(Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology) – newskies.com as VSAT provider

Sengerema Telecenter

SengeremaTelecenter:Tower

Sengerema MeshRemarkable aspects

• New business models aiming at sustainability independent of funding

• Network creation embedded in capacity building and community growing

• Addressing the “chicken – egg” problem of creating a rural IT environment

• Lakezone Wireless Expert Group

Sengerema Mesh

Customers

Sengerema MeshCustomers / Users

• First round:

• The Union of Disabled Association of Tanzania

• Sengerema Non-Governmental Network-SENGONET

• Sengerema Focal Development College (FDC)

• District Educational Office / DEO

• Sengerema Agricultural Office

• Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Commerce (TCCIA)

• UNDP/SLEM Entrepreneurs office

• Teachers Resource Centre (TRC)

• Tanzania Teachers Association (TTA)

• Home of the Elderly

• KIMOSA enterprises

• Ward

• Upcoming:

• Primary School

• Hotel Lisbon

• And many more ...

CeltelMobileOperatorTower

Sengerema MeshMap

Sengerema MeshWorkshop October 2008

Sengerema MeshTechnology choices

• Low budget (...) Mesh• Wireless routers: Linksys WRT54GL• Firmware: OpenWRT/Freifunk• Antennas: self built (with some

exceptions)• Antenna masts built locally

Sengerema Mesh: BudgetWiFi vs. Motorola Canopy

• Comparison Canopy Wifi

Initial costs per customer [USD]1200 150-200

Speed 54 Mbps 54 Mbps(With a VSAT connection of 128/64 kbps, the speed of the local wireless net will not be the bottleneck, in the foreseeable future)

Life span, expected10 years 5 years

Loss rateHardware failure, Theft, Power fluctuations, Animals, Water/climate

? 25% per year

Mesh cases

Sengerema:Nodehardware

Sengerema Mesh

Node hardware

Sengerema Mesh

Super node:Omni &BiquadAntenna

Sengerema MeshGPS recording of sites

SiteSurvey:

GPS,environment,technical &humanfactors

Sengerema MeshRadio Mobile Planning

Sengerema MeshRadioMobile Planning

Sengerema MeshNetwork Plan

Mesh cases

Sengerema:Installation

Sengerema MeshAntenna Masts

• 6 poles L- shape each six metres• 5 poles normal each six metres

Sengerema Mesh

Sengerema MeshIMAGE

Sengerema Mesh

Opening ceremony

Sengerema MeshChallenges & Next Steps

• 10+ sites (e.g. a school with hundreds of students) getting to use the web via 128/64 kbps ... bandwidth becomes an issue

• Complete Proxy / Cache configurations• Create Local Content• Configure Bandwidth Management


• Connect the next customers waiting• Upgrade the VSAT bandwidth


• Usage problems: Lismas, the technician, reports:“A customer told me there is a problem with the internet. When I checked it, I found out he typed only two w’s instead of three to enter the World Wide Web”.

• Virus protection• Tools and techniques

Sengerema MeshFurther Info

• http://telecentre.org• http://iicd.org• Many blogs and articles from Sengerema:• http://www.iicd.org/IICDCorporateBlog/sengerema-community-browsing-the-net

• http://www.telecentre.org/profiles/blogs/people-with-disabilities-hails

• http://www.telecentre.org/profiles/blog/list?user=366s7pcdpwq42

• http://www.iicd.org/articles/launch-of-wireless-internet-in-sengerema-tanzania/

• Flickr.com: search for “sengerema wireless mesh ...” :) e.g. John Kibuuka's stream: http://flickr.com/photos/kjohnah/

http://www.iicd.org/IICDCorporateBlog/sengerema-community-browsing-the-net

http://www.telecentre.org/profiles/blogs/people-with-disabilities-hails

http://www.telecentre.org/profiles/blog/list?user=366s7pcdpwq42

http://www.iicd.org/articles/launch-of-wireless-internet-in-sengerema-tanzania/

community mesh networks status 2012

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