[Battlemesh] med-mesh, a proposal to obtain funding from the EU

[Mitar]

Hi!

>    - Firmware based, preconfigured image or manually configured: Freifunk
>    wiki [3], freifunkfirmware generator [4] or wlan-slovenia can be examples
>    of that [5]
>    - Firmware based, autoconfigurable. Quick mesh project [6] and its
>    precedessor graciasensefils [7]
>    - Config file based. This is the guifi.net unsolclic stuff inside its
>    drupal module[8]

I would add that our nodewatcher can generate both config file or
firmware. ;-)

> Since there are out there several web applications (nodewatcher
> from wlan-slovenia [9], wind from awmn [10], the drupal module from guifi
> [8], something else?) I don't see the need of building a new one, although
> a some-kind of fusion would be great (maybe a developers meeting can be
> funded through this grant).

My long lasting position on this is that we should think about a modular
approach to this. So that we have a system where communities can
configure which modules they want and suit their network the best. In
the similar way Trac:

http://trac.edgewall.org/

Has a bunch of plugins you can configure your open source project
development to your needs:

http://trac-hacks.org/

Similar could/should be (in my opinion) done for open networks development.

In this way we would build upon a common platform, while still support
and account for our differences.

> Each of the tools mentioned has its features, and depending on the
> network's focus one or another fits better. Maybe a 
> comparison/documentation can be done trough the project to let the
> new community choose the best for them

We have started something about this here:

http://interop.wlan-si.net/

(Just to give some links, of course inside the this project we could do
much much more.)

> 4-. Interoperability standards/info/protocols
> Confine project [15] (an EU funded research project in which AWMN,
> funkfeuer and guifi.net are involved) is working on this and this project
> would be a real application of the tools they develop. For the experience
> trying to interconnect existing networks this can be a real issue

In our discussion with FunkFeuer Graz and Croatian network with whom we
are in process of establishing inter-country/inter-network wireless
links we have found that there are not yet any proven technology for
peering over wireless links. BGP again does not count in the wireless
links quality. So if there exist multiple wireless links between
networks, how can we peer efficiently and adapting to link quality
changes, drops and so on?

> Make this easier for "normal" users adds value to the network

And to discover them in the first place!


Mitar