DIY Mesh Guide

Building a Rural Wireless Mesh Network: A do-it-yourself guide to planning and building a Freifunk based mesh network

Background

(Comment - rationale for developing the guide, history, etc.)

About The Guide

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.

Karel Mathee -

Dare Sokoya -

Lawrence Mboweni -

Ajay Makan -

Henk Kotze -

Updates and version control

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

The latest version of the guide is available here

Resources

1.[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.

2.[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

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, was the guide useful in setting up your network and what topics should be expanded on or covered.