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The Brisbane Mesh Project Towards a wireless metropolitan area network David Leonard Brisbane Mesh Project Overview The dream Wireless technology Australian telecommunications law Existing WMANs Brisbane Mesh Participating QUESTNet 2001 1 of 15 Brisbane Mesh Project About me David Leonard PhD student at CSEE, UQ adaptive software components Background [email protected] Some networking Some telecomm engineering theory I live in Birkdale, near Manly QUESTNet 2001 2 of 15 Brisbane Mesh Project 3 of 15 The dream A data network with the following properties: Free use Decent bandwidth At my house Wireline solutions: Optus/Telstra cable ($$$) UQ/ITS student dial-in (56kb/s +rental) College net; CSEE labs QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project 4 of 15 Wireless technology Some radio frequencies are free to use Transceivers available IEEE802.11b 11Mb/s (2.4GHz) Lucent Orinoco (WaveLAN) Cisco Aironet Proxim, Zoomtel, etc. IEEE802.11a 56Mb/s (5GHz) Cisco/Radiata (available early 2002?) QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project 5 of 15 Link lengths Expect >2km using directional antennae 2.4GHz signal affected by: 40km links have been reported! antenna quality vegetation rain microwave ovens Max 4W EIRP (cf. 1kW oven) QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project Community network Peer structure mesh Participants Pay for and own their own gear Agree to facilitate new links Agree to carry traffic best-effort Hosts registries (geo. location) Compare with the early internet(s) QUESTNet 2001 6 of 15 Brisbane Mesh Project 7 of 15 Australian law I am not a lawyer Australian Communication Authority ACA says: can use for free, when: Telecommunications Act (1997) 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands ‘unlicensed’ since 1996 You own your network unit; and Your network unit supplies carriage services to the public (i.e. routes); and Your network unit is used for the sole purpose of carriage services on a non-commercial basis. Commercial carrier licence ~$104 p.a. QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project 8 of 15 Unresolved issues Connecting mesh to internet? (short term) Connecting mesh to internet? (long term) Peering (route table size?) Who owns the link? AARNet? ISP agreements (e.g. cable); shared billing? Liability; abuse. Bandwidth shaping; priority Omni-directional antennae? Growth, interference, limited channels (cellular layout?) QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project Some existing WMANs Non-commercial x.net.au (Adelaide) air.net.au (Canberra, Melbourne, …) consume.net (London) MediaPoli (Helsinki) BAWUG (San Francisco) Commercial Ricochet (USA) RadioWan (Perth) AirNet (Adelaide) QUESTNet 2001 9 of 15 Brisbane Mesh Project Basic requirements Siting Dedicated router Line of sight is a must e.g. always-on PC Capital ($$$) To buy card, antenna etc. QUESTNet 2001 10 of 15 Brisbane Mesh Project 11 of 15 Costs Network cards Antennae 22Mb/s: $300 2Mb/s: $85, or check ebay Professional 20dBi: $180 D.I.Y. 18dBi: $50 Cable Good quality: $7/m co-located: $0 Depends on signal strength (i.e. link distance) QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project 12 of 15 Can you help? “The Mesh needs You” Need experts Need participants Radiocomms Routing Legal to reach critical mass Need a champion/s; propaganda machine QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project My next steps (To do) Gauge interest Set up a node database Mailing list: [email protected] http://www.csee.uq.edu.au/~leonard/mesh Mapping tool Propagation modelling Setting up CSEE node on GPS rooftop at Univ Qld QUESTNet 2001 13 of 15 Brisbane Mesh Project 14 of 15 Other projects Solar-powered routers Router parts donation pool Old 386s will work well with ISA cradles Topography web site To put in trees, on friends’ rooves Find nearest node; direction, distance In-car nodes? Mobile IP? QUESTNet 2001 Brisbane Mesh Project 15 of 15 Summary Public access WMAN has potential of Low cost, decent bandwidth, at home Some challenges Appeal for participation QUESTNet 2001