DIY Mesh Guide: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:13, 26 May 2009

Building a Rural Wireless Mesh Network

A do-it-yourself guide to planning and building a Freifunk based mesh network

About The Guide

Building a Rural Wireless Mesh Network

Reliable, affordable and easy access to telecommunication services for all has been identified as key to social and economic development in Africa. Self-provisioning and community ownership of low cost, distributed infrastructure is becoming a viable alternative to increase the penetration of telecommunication services in rural Africa. The recent emergence of wireless mesh network technology (based on IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards) can help to improve the delivery of telecommunication services in these regions.

The guide tries to simplfy the planning and building of a mesh network, using a step-by-step approach to setting up a infrastructure mesh node, or an access point using a Linksys WRT54gl and the Freifunk firmware or DD WRT firmware depending on the node type.

DIY Guide topics

Version 0.7_65 of the DIY guide covers the following topics:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Description of a wireless mesh network
Chapter 3: Important condsiderations
Chapter 4: Required Hardware and software
Chapter 5: Planning the wireless mesh network
Chapter 6: Building the wireless mesh network
Chapter 7: Services on the network
Appendix A: Acronyms
Appendix B: Configuration Steps
Appendix C: Troubleshooting FAQ
Appendix D: Wireless Regulations in Africa
Appendix E: How to prepare a CAT5 LAN cable
Appendix F: Resources
Appendix G: Planning Sheet

Core Group

David Johnson - aka "kingdavid" is a research leader in the Wireless Africa group at the Meraka Institute. David is currently completing his PhD in California at UCSB.

Karel Matthee - Project manager.

Dare Sokoya - Dare is currently reading for his PhD at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His passion lies in being the best in his career path and contributing his quota to the evolving telecommunication industry.

Lawrence Mboweni - Developer

Ajay Makan - Ajay's passion lies in the development and implementation of wireless networks in communities, with a specific focus on health and education in the ICT4D domain.

Henk Kotze - Henk is a technical leader within the Wireless Africa development team. He is passionate about any technology, specially technology that can benefit people's essential needs.

Download

Download Icon

You can download the latest version of the guide in .PDF format here

Feedback

Please send us your feedback, comments and corrections to diymeshguide[at]meraka.org.za. We would like to know how you have used the guide, whether the guide was useful in setting up your mesh network and what topics should be expanded on or covered in the guide.

Read what comments have been received

Software & Hardware and Resources from the guide

A list of all the hardware & software requirements and resources listed in the guide

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license

This work is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license. For more details regarding your rights to use and redistribute this work, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Image:DIY Guide_Cover_sml.png|right|180px|DIY Mesh Guide cover]]
+{|align="right"
+| style="height:100%;width:20em;border:1px solid #D9D9D9;background-color:#F2F2F2;" valign="top" |
+*[[DIY_Mesh_Guide|'''DIY Mesh Guide Home''']]
+*[[DIY_Mesh_Guide_Download|'''Download Guide''']]
+*[[DIY_Mesh_Guide_Feedback|'''Feedback Received''']]
+*[[DIY_Mesh_Guide_Software_and_Resources|'''Hardware & Software requirements and Resources''']]
+|}
+<font size="3">'''Building a Rural Wireless Mesh Network''' <br>
-<font size="3">'''Building a Rural Wireless Mesh Network:''' A do-it-yourself guide to planning and building a Freifunk based mesh network</font>
+A do-it-yourself guide to planning and building a Freifunk based mesh network</font>
+[[Image:DIY Guide_Cover_sml2.png|left|180px|DIY Mesh Guide cover]]
+__TOC__
+<br clear=all>
-== Background ==
-(Comment - rationale for developing the guide, history, etc.)
+== About The Guide ==
+==== Building a Rural Wireless Mesh Network ====
+Reliable, affordable and easy access to telecommunication services for all has been identified as key to social and economic development in Africa. Self-provisioning and community ownership of low cost, distributed infrastructure is becoming a viable alternative to increase the penetration of telecommunication services in rural Africa. The recent emergence of wireless mesh network technology (based on IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards) can help to improve the delivery of telecommunication services in these regions.
-== About The Guide ==
+The guide tries to simplfy the planning and building of a mesh network, using a step-by-step approach to setting up a infrastructure mesh node, or an access point using a Linksys WRT54gl and the Freifunk firmware or DD WRT firmware depending on the node type.
+==== DIY Guide topics ====
+Version '''0.7_65''' of the DIY guide covers the following topics:
+* Chapter 1: Introduction
+* Chapter 2: Description of a wireless mesh network
+* Chapter 3: Important condsiderations
+* Chapter 4: Required Hardware and software
+* Chapter 5: Planning the wireless mesh network
+* Chapter 6: Building the wireless mesh network
+* Chapter 7: Services on the network
+* Appendix A: Acronyms
+* Appendix B: Configuration Steps
+* Appendix C: Troubleshooting FAQ
+* Appendix D: Wireless Regulations in Africa
+* Appendix E: How to prepare a CAT5 LAN cable
+* Appendix F: Resources
+* Appendix G: Planning Sheet
 ==== Core Group ====
-(Comment - need to put a two liner description of the team members)
+'''David Johnson''' - aka "kingdavid" is a research leader in the Wireless Africa group at the Meraka Institute. David is currently completing his PhD in California at UCSB.
-David Johnson - aka "kingdavid" is a research leader in the Wireless Africa group at the Meraka Institute.
+'''Karel Matthee''' - Project manager.
-Karel Mathee -
+'''Dare Sokoya''' - Dare is currently reading for his PhD at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His passion lies in being the best in his career path and contributing his quota to the evolving telecommunication industry.
-Dare Sokoya -
+'''Lawrence Mboweni''' - Developer
-Lawrence Mboweni -
+'''Ajay Makan''' - Ajay's passion lies in the development and implementation of wireless networks in communities, with a specific focus on health and education in the ICT4D domain.
-Ajay Makan -
+'''Henk Kotze''' - Henk is a technical leader within the Wireless Africa development team. He is passionate about any technology, specially technology that can benefit people's essential needs.
-Henk Kotze -
+== Download ==
+[[Image:Download Icon.png|left|30px|Download Icon]][[DIY_Mesh_Guide_Download|'''You can download the latest version of the guide in .PDF format here''']]
-== Updates and version control ==
+== Feedback ==
-The Freifunk and DD-WRT firmware is continually being updated and new releases are available on a regular basis. Always check for the latest versions online as the DIY Guide might not be updated regularly enough to reflect the newest versions of the firmaware.
-== Download ==
+Please send us your feedback, comments and corrections to '''diymeshguide[at]meraka.org.za'''. We would like to know how you have used the guide, whether the guide was useful in setting up your mesh network and what topics should be expanded on or covered in the guide.
+[[DIY_Mesh_Guide_Feedback|'''Read what comments have been received''']]
-You can download the latest version of the guide in .PDF format here
-== Resources ==
+== Software & Hardware and Resources from the guide ==
-*[http://wire.less.dk/cantenna/ '''Video - Making a Cantenna'''] The video shows, step-by-step, the building of a cantenna (antenna made from a can) for wireless networking (Wi-Fi, WLAN at 2.4 Ghz). Without audio, and with simple subtitles and clear pantomimic instructions, the video lends itself well to localisation.
+A list of all the [[DIY_Mesh_Guide_Software_and_Resources|hardware & software requirements and resources]] listed in the guide
-*[http://wndw.net/pdf/wndw-ebook.pdfBook '''Wireless Networking in the Developing World'''] The overall goal of this book is to help you build affordable communication technology in your local community by making best use of whatever resources are available. Using inexpensive off-the-shelf equipment and local sources for materials and fabricating parts yourself, you can build reliable network links with very little budget. By working with your local community, you can build a telecommunications infrastructure that benefits everyone who participates in it.
-== Feedback ==
+----
+[[Image: somerights20.png|left|70px|Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license]]
-Please send us your feedback, comments and corrections to '''wa-admin[at]meraka.org.za'''. We would like to know how you have used the guide, whether the guide was useful in setting up your mesh network and what topics should be expanded on or covered in the guide.
+This work is released under the Creative Commons '''Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license'''. For more details regarding your rights to use and redistribute this work, see
+http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/