rgmussel's blog

CUWiN Announces Projects for Google Summer of Code 2007

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:40:36 -0500

We are happy to announce that for a second straight year the CUWiN Foundation plans to take part in Google's Summer of Code. Last year we were able to support two successful projects. This year, we hope to mentor several more projects.

For a list of the projects that CUWiN is supporting for Summer of Code 2007, click here.

For more information about the projects or to suggest a project that would further develop our CUWiNware software, please send an email to David Young, our Chief Engineer.

New CUWiN Brochures

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:38:09 -0500

CUWiN has recently finished its new brochure. Click here to download a copy today.

CUWiN Vision Quest 2007

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:00:00 -0600

On Tuesday, January 30, 2007, CUWiN staff gathered to take part in Vision Quest 2007. An off-site location was donated by the the Episcopal Foundation of the University of Illinois. We met in the late afternoon and began with Dutch coffee and double-chocolate brownies.

Spirits were high as the staff took stock of the organization's progress and where we want to be at the end of 2007. Important plans were made to get CUWiNware, our flagship software, to version 1.0. We also agreed on the future of Hack Night, which will take a decidedly technical turn beginning very, very soon (details to be released later today). We also established important goals for our new consulting services and development efforts.

Our day concluded with a fantastic meal at a local establishment. The energy created at Vision Quest bodes well for the future of the CUWiN Foundation, as we build on past successes to promote open, democratic networks and provide better mesh networking products.

CUWiN Completes Port to Meraki Mini

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 06:07:00 -0500

CUWiN is pleased to announce that we have successfully ported our flagship software to the Meraki Mini. Documentation on the port can be found at http://cuwin.net/manual/howto/meraki.

Porting CUWiN software to the Meraki Mini makes using CUWiNware even cheaper by dropping the price point of nodes that can run CUWiNware from a few hundred dollars to around $50. The Meraki Mini is perfect for making apartment buildings and office spaces wireless, as the infrastructure costs are significantly cheaper than wired installations.

For more information about CUWiN, contact
Ross Musselman
ross@cuwin.net
Tel: +1 217 278-3933 x. 30, Fax: +1 217 278-7171

Free Public Access Terminals Available at UCIMC

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:10:32 -0500

August 1, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Daniel Meredith, CUWiN Senior Network Engineer
217-278-3933 x30 daniel@cuwireless.net

Ross Musselman, CUWiN Outreach Coordinator
217-278-3933 x30 ross@cuwireless.net

***

CUWiN PROVIDES FREE PUBLIC ACCESS TERMINALS AT THE URBANA-CHAMPAIGN INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER AS A PART OF NEW DIGITAL INCLUSION INITIATIVE.

CUWiN has partnered with the Acorn Active Media Foundation (Acorn) and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) to provide Internet computers for the public -- the next step in spreading free broadband services throughout the local community.

CUWiN, Acorn, and the UCIMC invite the local residents to try out the new public access computers. The terminals, which use CUWiN's mesh network to provide broadband Internet access, are free and open to anyone who wishes to use them. They will be available during the UCIMC's open hours.

These Internet access terminals are part of an initiative funded by the Threshold Foundation to demonstrate the potential for Internet and multi-media Intranet services utilizing a community-owned wireless mesh network. CUWiN will also be providing free wireless hotspots in Lincoln Square Mall, the Urbana Free Library, and other public areas.

Community and municipal wireless networks have gained tremendous attention in recent years. CUWiN's software incorporates research from partnering laboratories, companies, and open source projects from around the globe with the goal of creating low-cost turn-key wireless networking solutions.

CUWiN's mission is to help bridge the digital divide by developing low-cost, open source, wireless technologies and making them available to community and municipal networks. CUWiN networks have been established in urban settings like Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., as well as rural places like the Mesa Grande Indian Reservation near San Diego, California, and Apirede, Ghana.

"The wireless technologies being developed and deployed by CUWiN as a part of this initiative hearken back to the innovation and vibrancy of early Internet development." stated Ross Musselman, CUWiN Outreach Coordinator. "With a focus on maintaining Internet freedom, these new technologies support digital inclusion around the globe."

For more information on this initiative, contact the CUWiN team at:

E-mail: cu-wireless-support@cuwireless.net
Phone: +1 217 278-3933 x31.

http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/cu-wireless-announce

About the UCIMC: The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice in the urbana Area. We are dedicated to addressing issues that the mainstream media neglects and we do not conceal our politics behind a false objectivity. We will empower people to "become the media" by providing democratic access to available technologies and information.

About the Acorn Active Media Foundation: Acorn engages in software, website, and technical development in support of the global justice movement. The Acorn Active Media Foundation is an employee-run tech collective whose members are themselves activists; the projects Acorn staff work on are chosen based on members' interest in working on them.

CUWiN Status Report for Nodeconfig and Multi-Radio

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:30:10 -0500

CUWiN ROADMAP

0.7.0 bug fixes in hsls; multi-architecture build - August 2006
0.8.0 improved web interface/nodeconfig for multi-radio - September 2006
0.9.0 meraki mini support (pending availability)
1.0.0 bandwidth shaping; discover and select gateways (pending SoC project)

CUWiN 1.0 REQUIRED FEATURES

- ROBUST AND DE-BUGGED
fix bugs such as internet gateway default route problem

- NODECONFIG / TURNKEY
multi-radio setup so nodes can provide access points

CUWiN 1.1+ FEATURES

- Discover and select gateways [Michael Earnhart SoC project 2006; target for 1.0.0]
When there are 2 gateways and one is crowded or slow, pick the other. End users will understand and judge CUWiN based on getting easy fast Internet access. Is this called "gateway-selection protocol"?

- Name Service
Communication and content-sharing among community participants. The "ad-hoc name service" is 80% complete. Specs are at http:// svn.curireless.net/svn/cuw/trunk/doc/local/ name-service*. Dave has code for the reflection aspect. We need to do the nodeconfig part. Need to debug name service bridge. We can also add ability to have a DNS name on the internet and advertise servers. Name service is overdue.

- WifiDog
Captive portal and authentication. When nodes provide access points, we want to allow the node administrator to require login from a captive web page before they get network access. Registration might just require a MAC address or email.
We would operate a back-end wifidog server; Dan Merideth is setting this up. Each node would be a client. Bryan, Chase or Bill Comisky could help import and Dave has instructions: http:// svn.cuwireless.net:8080/svn/cuw/trunk/doc/local/3rd-party-src.d/ general-import-insns.

COMING FEATURES NOT SCHEDULED FOR A SPECIFIC RELEASE

- ETT: Another mesh routing metric for experimentation; extract from kernel and inject into hslsd.

- HSLSD "feature-complete": adapts more quickly to changing networks, improve bootstrap, handle merges, handle bidirectional links according to BBN TR 1301. Add linkstate locking and decision/hello/ lsu threads, so real-time performance for flooding/hello protocal improves.

- Virtual AP: NetBSD team will be porting this from FreeBSD, we hope. This will allow a node with one radio to be both a backhaul and access point.

COMING PLATFORM/DRIVER SUPPORT NOT SCHEDULED FOR A SPECIFIC RELEASE

- Linux Port: CUWiN is tightly integrated to BSD so a Linux port will not be trivial, and will require a significant contribution to maintain over time. For these reasons Dave feels a Linux port is a low priority. Jennifer Hou and other supporters desire a Linux port, however, and it may grow the coder and user base. If someone is willing to perform the port and maintain it, Dave is ready to accept this contribution. ETX and HSLS are already ported to Linux. Note: Linux cross-build already exists and is used by CNT and others.

- There is a large list of cards that need drivers and consumer-grade devices we want to support. Meraki Mini is the important one that we hope to provide by 1.0.0.

RESEARCH IDEAS - NOT DESIGNED OR SCHEDULED FOR ANY RELEASE

- support nodes sleeping for power savings, expand HSLS by adding sleeping logic based on WSN/sensor techniques [offer by Ashish in July 2006]

- IPv4/IPv6 NAT Traversal: Teredo would allow IPv6 services in the mesh to be available at IPv4 addresses from the Internet. Tunnels, such as OpenSSH, may be needed for end-users to make services available. Alternately, assign each computer a global IP address?

- Channel Agility: Research ability to coordinate channel changes or operate on multiple channels. Dave feels this is a significant amount of work. This will improve speed and efficiency.

- Remove Quagga to compress CUWiN size. Currently we are only using Quagga for it's ability to enter routes into the kernel routing table.

- VoIP: R&D is needed to reduce latency. Also test video.

- Bandwidth shaping

- QoS

- Collect and Publicize Node Data: needed by administrators.

- Scalability to clouds of more than 50 nodes.

- Configuration information store.

- VizRoute: improve, switch from GD to another library, release for net admins

- Low Priority Research: OPN / MS Research's MultiNet. Setting appropriate carrier-sense thresholds. Transmit power control; self- interference mitigation such as Least Interference Routing. Multicast. Act on interface events (up/down/add/delete) and media events (active/no-carrier). Redistribute routes from other protocols to hsls.

- Compress CUWiN to 8MB: to move to smaller, cheaper devices.

- Testing Harness Platform: A way to test cuwin routing, hsls, to identify bugs and performance bottlenecks in a controlled environment.

- 802.11 link adaptation: allow nodes to find best link to gateway based on packet loss and return statistics. Also need 802.11 link layer instrumentation.

Hack Night Scheduled for July 23, 2006

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:55:00 -0500

CUWiN will hold a Hack Night on July 23, 2006, at 5 pm at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Hack Night is free and open to anyone interested in learning more about wireless technology, wireless software development, or wireless hardware. Free pizza will be available.

Hack Night is part public information forum and part exploration in the hardware and software that CUWiN develops and uses. People of all ages and abilities will find something to pique their interest. Hack Night will feature three tracks: a general information track, a software development track, and a hardware building track. A member of the CUWiN staff will be available to assist people interested in each track.

The Urbana-Champaign Independt Media Center is located in the old Urbana Post Office at 202 South Broadway in Urbana.

For more information about Hack Night, send an email to rgmussel@cuwireless.net or call our office at (217) 278-3933.

CUWiN Announces Mesa Grande Reservation Installation

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 09:49:24 -0500

19 June 2006

Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network is pleased to announce an agreement with Tribal Digital Village to install a CUWiN wireless network on the Mesa Grande Reservation.

Implementation of the network will begin on Friday, 23 June 2006, and will include the installation and configuration of 25 nodes connected to homes and public facilities on the reservation. Also on hand will be a representative of the Prometheus Radio Project, who will be in charge of documenting the installation.

For more information about this implementation, email Ross Musselman, CUWiN's Outreach Coordinator, at cu-wireless-support@cuwireless.net.

CUWiN Announces Paid Internship Opportunity

Tue, 16 May 2006 11:03:29 -0500

CUWiN announces a paid internship opportunity beginning in August 2006 to be a part of our Urbana, Illinois, team. This internship is made possible through the Americorps VISTA program (which requires that the intern be a US citizen). The intern will be involved with technical support and development, documentation, and deployment of CUWiN networks. Along with the stipend and healthcare benefits provided by Americorps VISTA, CUWiN will assist in arranging accommodations and getting the team member settled within our local community. If you or someone you know would be interested in working on one of the premier open-source wireless projects in the world, please contact CUWiN at cu-wireless-support@cuwireless.net before July 15, 2006.

Ross Musselman
CUWiN Outreach Coordinator

More info on CUWiN: http://www.cuwireless.net
More info on VISTA: http://www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp

Job Description

Work closely with the CUWiN core staff to facilitate the the growth of the CUWiN project. Develop long-term and short-term goals that further CUWiN's objectives and support CUWiN's vision and mission.

Identify ideal node locations. Install and troubleshoot network nodes in Champaign and Urbana. Provide technical support to local residents and partners to maintain the local wireless network. Participate in solving problems within CUWiN networks worldwide.

Work closely with CUWiN developers and local activists to implement CUWiN software in our domestic and international network sites.

Help update and maintain cuwireless.net. Answer questions on the support list.

Management

The CUWiN Project Coordinator and Technical Lead will be available daily to guide VISTA members. VISTA members will send to the CUWiN staff regular progress updates on fundraising, outreach, and website administration.

Pay

VISTAs receive a $10,748 Stipend (the living wage for a single person in Champaign-Urbana), a $4,725 Educational Award, and healthcare.

Results of Source Compiling

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 10:35:42 -0500

Here are two files that are important for setting up a Soekris 45xx node. ONLY use this file if you are flashing a a Soekris 45xx node.

The first, netbsd.gz, is the source that needs to be flashed to the node. It is the file that results from running the buildmd process in the source, and the original output looks something like this: staboot-18-Apr-2006.md.

The second, pxeboot_ia32_com0.bin, can be found in the $BUILDDIR/O/sys/arch/i386/stand/pxeboot_com0_19200 directory, where $BUILDDIR is specified in .mkstabootrc file in your home directory.

Both these files need to be placed in your /tftpboot directory.

CUWiN Hack Night: March 22 at 6 pm in IMC lounge

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 15:12:13 -0600

CUWiN Hack Night @ the IMC on Wednesday evening starting at 6pm!

Here's the details:

When: 6pm-???

Where: The IMC -- 202 South Broadway Avenue in Downtown Urbana -- AKA "The Post Office", AKA "The big neo-greco-old-federal-looking-building with the big pillars" -- enter through the main door on the West side.

What: CUWiN Hack Night.

Who: CUWiN experts and neophytes, tech-geekery & Luddites, the wirelessly curious, interested & addicted.

Focus: TBA

RSVP if you'd like pizza. If you don't RSVP to rgmussel@cuwireless.net, I won't know to order pizza for you.

Hope to see you then!