Category Archives: Wireless Connectivity

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Access Points with intelligence!
I am very impressed with this project, and like to see technology like this hitting the commodity mainstream. Linksys has implemented an Access Point with a mini-Linux running inside. These guys have now started to create distributions of additional tools, etc. that can run inside the AP.

What I really like about this is the possiblity of putting additional authentication code inside of the AP for controlling access through it. I am currently involved in a project where we require a PC dedicated to provide this type of functionality. The PC siots between the Internet and the Access Point and provides the authentication and access control. If we could embed our code inside of this AP, we could eliminate the cost of the Access Point.

I might have to go buy one of these and take a look at what’s possible!

Linux on the Linksys wrt54g 0.2. A Linux distribution for the Linksys wrt54g wireless access point. [freshmeat.net]

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Mesh Networking continues to emerge
As I have been watching the wireless world explode over the last 8+ years, I have begun to realize that “mesh networking” is where it’s at. Mesh networking is the peer-to-peer solution in the wireless world. It begins to leverage the power contained in each radio to provide “relaying” capabilities for other nodes. Mesh will break the trend of “client-server” designs of traditional multi-point radio networks, and allow for self-configuration and distributed designs.

Mesh networking is going to change the entire way that wireless networks are designed, and also enhance the overall usability and capabilities of these networks. These guys are working in the right area!

Firetide Intros Mesh Routers. You can sign up to be an early adopter: Firetide is introducing a cool new product that it calls a wireless mesh router. It aims to eliminate the wired backhaul from traditional APs. So a company could distribute a slew of Firetide routers which self-configure to pass data from one to the next, back to an AP that is connected. Firetide is also opening the door to companies that want to be part of its early adopters program. HP Labs is already using Firetide gear. In a briefing Firetide gave to Glenn a few weeks ago, the company discussed some specific scenarios, such as unwiring hotels, in which so many of the costs were in the wireline side that their products could drop a project’s cost by more than half…. [Wi-Fi Networking News]

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A nice Network Management Tool
I use MRTG for monitoring and graphing many of the devices on my personal network, and also on our 80211.net wireless network. MRTG is a very simple, yet powerful application. I happened to come across this project the other day, and we’re about to give it a test. It appears to be a very good extension of the capabilities of MRTG without getting too complex.

NetMRG 0.10pre2. A network monitoring, reporting, and graphing system. [freshmeat.net]

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Advances in model rocketry …
When I was growing up, I really enjoyed building and launching model rockets. There were several of us in my neighborhood that would buy and build the Estes Rockets that we bought at the local hobby shop. I remember that we all would look through the Estes catalogs at all of the new rockets, the multi-stage rockets, and the rockets that had payload capabilities.

One of the neat gadgets that you were able to buy from Estes was a camera that would take the 110 film cartidges. It would take a series of pictures as the rocket went through its flight. You would have to take the film to get developed after recovery. I remember that we all talked about getting one of these cameras.

This article brought back all of these memories as these guys have taken this to a whole new level. They are now putting a video camera in a model rocket, and sending live video feeds back to the ground as the flight takes place. Amazing. I went to their site, and enjoyed checking out the recorded videos that they had.

Pretty soon, with a set-up like this, you’ll be able to watch them launch their rockets live! All it will take is tying their existing video feeds to a streaming video server attached to the Internet. They might be able to use a 802.11 point-to-point wireless link to get from their “launchpad” to the Internet.

If I get motivated … maybe I’ll play around with some of this stuff … it might be fun!

2.4GHz Wireless Video from Model Rocket [Slashdot]

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The transparent society gets closer … or a closeup?
There is a merging of technologies, and the evolution of technologies, that is creating the possiblity of every person becoming a “sensor” that can be used by others. With the Internet, 802.11 wireless, wearable computers, cell phones with cameras, and now embedded cameras … we’ll soon be able to share and broker audible and visual information from anywhere.

This article shows what HP engineers have been up to with embedded cameras in glasses. When coupled with a small computer that has recording capabilities, GPS, and wireless connectivity, we could all be sharing recorded information about almost anything that we experience. If you have not read David Brin’s The Transparent Society … you ought to. We’re getting closer and closer …

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Man and Machine merging …
I have continued to read about Kevin Warwick and his work with Cybernetics. He is becoming one of the earths first true Cyborgs. Along with Steve Mann (who I’ll post about in the next few days) they are leading the world with this type of research.

In this latest article called “No more talk … Just think” he is exploring an area that I have discussed with friends for quite some time. If the proper sensors were inserted into the brain, a simple application could be used to learn certain neural firing patterns as you thought, or thought of moving a muscle, etc. Once these patterns were learned, we could assign new ways to communicate the presence of these patterns. So now simply thinking about something could be detected by software, and then that software could trigger any type of action. This puts a very different type of spin on “my ears were burning” … I might think about my wife, which would trigger the software to send an instant message to my wife. Even further, it might send a message to her cyborg-implant, which would then activate a small heater implanted in her ear. 😉

With cyborg implants that have visible or non-visible (wireless) communciations you will have whole new ways of communicating … between humans, and between humans and machines.

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Planned update of 80211.net Wasatch County network
On Saturday morning, August 30th, 2003 we are going to perform some updates to the Wasatch County network that might impact users in Wasatch County. These updates will allow us to provide better and broader coverage throughout Wasatch County and the Heber Valley.

We will be starting our work on Friday evening, and begin the major work around 8:00am Saturday morning. We plan to complete the work by early afternoon on Saturday. The current work plan does not involve any work that will cause network problems, however as usual issues can always arise. In these cases, we will work to minimize the time that the network might be down.

None of the updates that we are performing will have any impact on our Salt Lake City locations or Internet Cafe’s.

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More wireless deployments …
I have been very busy lately on a number of fronts. Two of my key consulting clients are both going through huge changes … one of them is creating the potential to change the computer industry in a way that I would have never imagined. More on that later …

On the wireless front, 80211.net has continued to expand it’s services and offerings, and we are now providing service to several different types of customers. We recently added some more Internet Cafes, and have both apartment and residential users. With all of this, we are learning a lot about the management and administration of a wireless network.

One thing that occurred recently is that our wireless relay on the mountain here in Wasatch County failed. It appears that one or more of the wiring connections got loose, and the batteries didn’t get charged. Once they died, the shed went down … for days. It sucked.

I am now working on a solution to remotely monitor the shed, and it’s electrical system. I’ll write more in the future, however we are close to deploying a solution – tied into MRTG – that will allow us to monitor the temperature, humidity, light-level, airflow, battery voltage, charge current, and load current. I am also looking to provide alarming in this solution.

Besides just providing service … we are working no how to provide “manageable” service. And we are learning a lot in the process …

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Mesh networks at a small scale …
This is an awesome article that outlines the current state of mesh network R&D at the military level. Mesh networks are going to be the next generation of wireless networking … where every wireless node becomes a “repeater” for the rest of the nodes. With this architecture, nodes are able to “relay” messages for other nodes increasing the distance over which nodes can communicate, and also increasing the fault tolerance of the entire network.

There are numerous examples of where mesh networking is going to be very powerful. Groups of people who are working together in a geographic area can now create a large mesh network that is fully distributed, and requires no central “access point”. Imagine fire fighters out in a wilderness area fighting a major forest fire. Each fire fighter is wearing a mesh networking radio, and becomes a node in a mesh network with all of the other fire fighters. As they become spread out fighting the fire, they are all relaying communications traffic back and forth between each other. If any two firefighters become separated by a ridge or other physical obstruction, they will still be able to communicate if there are other fire fighters in between them.

I can see this expanding even further into personal communications, or even automobile communications. If your car was a node in a mesh network, then communicating from car to car on a highway might enable large groups of cars to have Internet connectivity if any one of the cars was able to get to the net.

At Comdex this last week, I was able to see a demonstration and presentation by one of the first commercial vendors of this type of technology. Mesh Networks is the company … and there will be many more of them …

Sensors Gone Wild [Slashdot]

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The “last wire” … wireless power! (Almost!)
I have to admit that in this world of wireless communciations, it’s great to go visit companies that are using 802.11b networks. There is no longer the need to search for Ethernet jacks, and to have a mess of cables spread across the conference room table. I plug in my wireless card, might have to get some settings from them, and I’m on the net and running.

There is still the issue of power. What I am finding now is that people are looking for outlets to plug in their laptops for power. And so the tangle of power cords is still the “last wire” that will be dealt with. There are the fancy conference room tables that have outlets in the center, and then even some that have outlets for each seating position … or outlets on the floor or the walls around the table. All of this represents one of the last “pains” of mobile computing … power.

I am impressed that this company – MobileWise – has picked this as a new solution space. They are creating a pad that can provide power to devices that are placed on it. The pad could be placed on a desk or table, or possibly built into furniture, so that power can be delivered conveniently … and without cords.

I suspect that this is going to be a very successful company if they are able to execute on their plans. Powering and recharging all of the mobile devices that we are going to have is an important market.

One last thought … what about wearable computers? I just realized that I might want to chat with this company about how I’ll recharge my wearable by having a pad embedded in a chair that I’ll sit on. The conductive component of my wearable would then be built into the seat of my pants! So when I require a recharge, I’ll just head to an Internet Cafe to connect wirelessly to the Internet … and then “sit around” on a MobileWise chair to recharge my batteries!

‘Wire-free’ electricity juices mobile devices. MobileWise has unveiled a pad with a conductive surface that can power computing devices placed on top of it. The technology is due out early next year. [Computerworld Mobile/Wireless News]