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VILLAGETELCO MESH POTATO
PRESENTATION
By
ASMIC COMPUTERS
Website: http://ngportal.com/asmicom
Email: [email protected]
Plot 6, Block G, Oyesina Str., Felele
Layout, Ibadan,
Oyo State, Nigeria.
35, De Oude Kaap, Malborough
Way, Ringwood Drive, Parklands,
Cape Town, South Africa.
Facilitator
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Oluyomi Olufemi Kabiawu is a Business Analyst / Solutions
Architect, Asmic Computers.
BSc, Management Information Systems (Covenant University)
Over five years Industry experience in deploying Enterprise
Business Intelligence solutions.
Solutions expertise and certifications covers OEMs like Oracle,
SAS, ArcSight, etc.
OUTLINE

Introduction

The VillageTelco Architecture

Design Features and Capabilities
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Other Advantages
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Success Stories – MP Deployments
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DEMO
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Provisioning
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Questions
Introduction
VoIP (Voice over IP) over mesh networks could be a
potential solution to the high cost of making phone calls
and accessing the Internet in Nigeria and most parts of
Africa.
The Village Telco (VT) is an easy-to-use and scalable
VoIP over meshed WLAN (Wireless Local Area
Network) telephone infrastructure.
It uses a mesh network of “Mesh Potatoes” to form a
peer-to-peer network to relay telephone calls without
land-lines or cell- phone towers.
THE VILLAGE TELCO
ARCHITECTURE
The Village Telco is a mesh network of Mesh Potatoes (MPs), where adjacent MPs automatically
form a peer-to-peer network and relay telephone calls without landlines or cellphone towers. An
MP (MP) is an 802.11b/g mesh router with a single FXS (Foreign eXchange Station) port that
accepts an ordinary two-wire telephone.
The network is made up of a mesh of VT terminals (Mesh Potato or MP). Each MP features a
wireless transceiver, telephone and RJ45 interfaces as well as industry standard PBX
controllers in a robust simple weatherproof package.
The telephone interface provides voice (telephony) services with the use of traditional analog
telephone boxes, while the RJ45 interface provides connection to the corporate local area
network (LAN) for data and computer based services. The wireless interface provides support
for WiFi enabled devices such as laptop computers, tablets and mid-to-high end mobile
phones.
Multiple MPs are setup to form a resilient mesh network which acts as a de-centralized
communication highway with 99.9% availability. Each and every telephone user on the network
can call every other telephone user while they simultaneously share data. The mesh network
can also be connected to the internet, hence providing internet services to all users of the
network.
The MPs have an RJ-45 port to connect a PC. However, a PC can join a wi-fi network
formed by the MPs. Its ESSID will be seen at the Network Manager of each PC.
DESIGN FEATURES AND
CAPABILITIES
The Mesh Potato (MP) hardware and software design are built from choice
technologies and considerations that optimize the conditions within our
environment.
HARDWARE DESIGN
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The device primarily consists of an Atheros System on a Chip (SoC), which acts as the hub for
memory, network and analog telephone connections. A benefit of this chipset is that it is well
supported by OpenWRT and Mad-WiFi, which makes it relatively easy to port the necessary
software.
POWER CONSUMPTION
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The MP's voltage conversion unit therefore takes its share in the overall efficiency of the MP. This is a
good efficiency measurement considering the losses at the input section, which include the
resistance losses introduced by the fuse and other components. The MP efficiency outperforms other
Atheros AR2317 based WiFi design and other DC converter chips, such as the Anachip AP1509.
DESIGN FEATURES AND
CAPABILITIES (contd.)
POWER TOLERANCE
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The MPs have been designed to survive a reversed DC or mains AC to any pin of the Ethernet port,
the FXS port, the DC socket or the antenna socket. In addition, the MPs have a DC converter with a
wide input voltage range of approximately 9-35 Volts so that a user can power it with a large variety
of destabilized power supplies. These capabilities help to make an MP robust for use in a variety of
hostile settings.
SOTWARE DESIGN
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The MP includes a network management application called Afrimesh. Afrimesh makes it easy to
create an IP network and is built on top of the BATMAN project to provide a simple management
dashboard. The dashboard enables network operators to create and sustain a resilient communications network. Afrimesh is a web application that provides node/client management, network maps
maintenance, network monitoring and bandwidth management. Afrimesh uses the Google Maps or
OpenStreetMap14 to display its network maps with interconnected MP nodes.
NETWORK MANAGEMENT
INTERFACE
NETWORK MANAGEMENT
INTERFACE – Cont'd
Other Advantages
1.
Wireless solution: Unlike traditional PBX solutions, no major cable laying is required
because each MP connects wirelessly to other MPs on the network. Cable exists only
between the MP and its associated telephone box. Each MP route calls via the next
accessible MP from the source MP to the destination MP even if the source and destination
users are separated some kilometers away.
2. Converged data and voice services: No need of having different telephone and data
networks, each MP has built-in capability for voice and data traffic.
3. Hybrid solution: With communication convergence at its core, the MPs offer a bridge
between existing traditional PBX systems and next generation IP networks hence providing
low-cost upgrade path for the enterprise. With available bridge solutions, the mesh can be
connected to existing PBX systems hence making communication possible between MP
users and non-MP users. This offers considerable cost savings while upgrading and/or
expanding an existing communication network.
Other Advantages (contd.)
4. Resilient, de-centralized communication highway: There is no central PBX system as
is the case with traditional PBX machines. Each MP is an intelligent node on the
network. The failure of any MP node does not shutdown the network (and associated
services on it). All MPs participate in traffic management to ensure the delivery of
telephone and data services from source to destination.
5. Internet ready: With its WiFi and LAN interfaces, all users of the network have access to
internet services via an internet gateway connected to the mesh. Based on this feature,
it is also possible to connect the VT network deployed at geographically distant locations
and have all users call one another seamlessly.
6. Robust weatherproof design: Built for the tropics, the MPs come in robust enclosures
that make it suitable for indoor and outdoor installation and operations.
Outdoor
installations increase the coverage area of the MPs which is best for offices that are
spread across different buildings.
SUCCESS STORIES
These are the experiences at communities in Cape Town, South Africa and Adelaide, Australia,
where the VT was deployed.
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The testbed was spread over a community in Cape Town called the Bo-kaap Community. It
is a multi-cultural area close to Signal Hill. The inhabitants of Bo-Kaap are proud of their
rich cultural heritage. They were mostly descendants of slaves which were imported by the
Dutch during the 18th century. Two nanostations and sixteen MPs were deployed at Bokaap. They were installed in various homes with each MP within the line-of-sight range
required
to
communicate
with
a
nanostation
or
another
MP.
(http://www.bokaap.co.za)
Other tests demonstrated flawless call quality between two pairs separated by 2.1km and
extending into Gulf St. Vincent in Adelaide, South Australia. Similar robust performance
was experienced by the Serval Project's field testing of MPs and compatible equipment in
the Australian Outback. Several calls were placed between MPs and smart phones over
ranges of several hundred meters without difficulty due to the low noise floor of the remote
location combined with open terrain. The MPs and other equipments in the test were
operated entirely from batteries and solar panels, thereby demonstrating the ability of the
Village Telco paradigm to operate in areas devoid of traditional infrastructure. 11Volt LiPo
battery packs were directly coupled to MPs with no need for an external voltage regulation
circuitry. The tolerance of a wide range of DC input voltages made the exercise painless.
(http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=673)
(http://www.villagetelco.org/2010/07/serval-arkaroola-demo)
DEPLOYMENT IN CAPE TOWN
DEMO
PROVISIONING
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We offer MPs tailored to the needs of our clients in such a way that
brings the most functionality out of the network. In addition to supplies,
we also offer site services including site survey, installation and after –
sales support.
Site surveys allow us to check and propose efficient deployment options
that give our clients value for their investment.
Backed by intelligent engineers, our after sales support ensures that the
network infrastructure is always available.
QUESTIONS ? ? ?
Thank You !