[Freedombox-discuss] Allied Efforts.

[Paul Gardner-Stephen]

Hello,

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 4:11 PM,
<michi1 at michaelblizek.twilightparadox.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> On 11:29 Thu 20 Oct     , Paul Gardner-Stephen wrote:
> ...
>> We are also actively engaging in the IEEE 802.11 standards process to
>> get ad-hoc fixed (ask me if you need information about the problems
>> with using ad-hoc WiFi to form mesh networks),
>
> What exactly do you mean? I can imagine supporting dealing with lots of
> devices + drivers is a pain and I remember an email somewhere whishing for
> lower rates for better sensitivity.

Ad-hoc wifi suffers from some low-level protocol problems that waste
available airtime (through unnecessary beacons) and cause "cell
splitting" through an overly complex BSSID negotiation process that
almost every firmware gets wrong, and simply isn't needed because the
BSSID should be fixed for a mesh.

Separately, we do wish to get lower bit rates as well, but that might
fall into a separate standard.  But we certainly do want to go down to
rates as low as perhaps 10kbit to get a 20db gain over regular WiFi.
Using the ISM915 band would get us another 9db or so, and the 10x
power output gives another 10db, for a total 39db compared to regular
WiFi.  That could ideally translate into something like ~80x range
compared to regular WiFi, subject to a whole pile of caveats.

>> and also to standardise
>> the use of the cellular radio present in all phones to allow ad-hoc
>> packet radio in the ISM915 band to allow long-range mesh networking.
>
> I am looking forward for this.

As are we.  But don't go holding your breath.  Fixing standards and
seeing products arrive with the fixed standards takes years.

But as the Chinese proverb says: The best time to plant a tree is 20
years ago.  The next best time is today.

Paul.

>        -Michi
> --
> programing a layer 3+4 network protocol for mesh networks
> see http://michaelblizek.twilightparadox.com
>