Project AREDN MESH
“That’s a California Thing where there are high peaks and clear views for the Ghz radio beam to travel unrestricted for long distances”
Sure, no trees and mountains makes thing easier, but as an Event Organizer mesh is also a great RF “local” area networking tool. It seems between local RF Mesh networks within buildings and the immediate area and tunnels to distant areas of a typical event setup can be connected to a usable common network. Strategic combinations of these concepts still allows a common medium (several Megs of speed) of networking. Of course, the key is also the software envisioned to be used.
For the mesh networking part, AREDN Ham Radio Mesh Networking may be the answer. In setting up a lab environment with local meshes and tunnels it shows promising results. I wish we had this accessible some 20 years ago when we were growing our kayak race!
The key becomes cost –
This can be a low cost-hobby network or a really expensive professional network. Mine is recycled used RF AP gear, with inexpensive ($30) routers flashed with AREDN Firmware. Granted, I am still not employing dishes and the “big stuff” for long distances, but the reality is that living in the forest covered Northeast US, the deployment of long haul RF is very limited. Thus, a more clustered local area mesh is more realistic. Typically what I need for the events I organize.
UNDER CONTSTRUCTION
This webpage will be a slow documentation of the current state and the plans and goals as the project evolves.
It seems the network part is very manageable. Where a lot of research and planning is still headed is the computer programs that will make this worthwhile. I have dedicated a Linux portable server with a sizable SSD to be a portable server to house the programs to include:
- Webserver for publishing Information – implemented
- Mesh-Net – planned
- Mattermost (cloud based) – implemented
- Participant Tracking Database – so I have been a part of numerous long distance (smaller) events where tracking of runners have been a “sticky note and napkin” tracking system by radio. Why not by a web (local or cloud) based database with a HTML front end which systematically displays participant progress by a simple data interface.
Check out AREDNMESH.org