[OLPC Networking] Mesh network?

[Krishna Sankar (ksankar)]

> This has been the area of the OLPC that has interested me the 
> most (especially as I have a SDE/T QA background). Any way 
> for me to contribute?
> 
<KS>
	Absolutely yes, testing the wireless substrate is a very
difficult task and would need all our help. The drivers and the mesh
substrate is still being developed and is not yet stable enough for us
to start poking at it in any meaningful way like topologies, deployment
scenarios, .... The L1/L2 layers need to be stable and the derivers need
to be at a mature stage, else there are too many moving parts ( err ...
Moving bits ;o)) to make any intelligent inference.

	So as Ivan says, in two months ... ;o) 
</KS> 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Purcell [mailto:kevinpurcell at pobox.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 2:55 PM
> To: Krishna Sankar (ksankar)
> Cc: Kevin Purcell; MBurns; networking at laptop.org
> Subject: Re: [OLPC Networking] Mesh network?
> 
> Is there a testing plan (or even an testing "vision") for the 
> mesh network?
> 
> How far along is the dev and test work? It seems like it's 
> not too long before this ships and I've not seen much 
> mentioned about it (but I'm mostly just reading the mailing 
> lists and scanning the wikis).
> 
> This has been the area of the OLPC that has interested me the 
> most (especially as I have a SDE/T QA background). Any way 
> for me to contribute?
> 
> On Sep 6, 2006, at 2:03 PM, Krishna Sankar ((ksankar)) wrote:
> 
> > As usual, excellent questions & insights. Actually these 
> need to go in 
> > the Wiki.
> >
> > a)    802.11s support (hardware and device drivers) will be built by
> > Marvell
> >
> > b)    I haven't had the exposure to see if it will support 
> 802.11(a/ 
> > b/g)
> > as well. We also need to check if the modes can be switched 
> without a 
> > reset.
> >
> > c)    Things like multiple heterogeneous connections are the  
> > "magic", to
> > happen in the OLPC version of the network manager
> >
> > d)    Load balancing across multiple heterogeneous 
> connections is a  
> > good
> > idea, am not sure it can be done even now.
> >
> > e)    Most probably the laptops will support infrastructure 
> 802.11g as
> > well as ad-hoc mode, but not simultaneously to act as a rely.
> >
> > f)	Naturally, the first version will have constrained capabilities,
> > which will improve as we understand more about the 
> > topology/interference/power requirements and their 
> interactions in the 
> > OLPC scenario i.e. the software that runs on the network substrate.
> >
> > g)	Many of the mesh features and network protocol switching will be
> > controllable by software; thus leaving the 
> hardware/firmware/ drivers 
> > to optimize to the max, under normal circumstances.
> >
> > <soap_box>
> > 	We cannot add networking features with reckless 
> abandonment, as we 
> > are constrained by power and maximize functionality with minimum 
> > power. Hence many cautionary e-mails, on the protocols, message 
> > exchanges et al.
> > </soap_box>
> >
> > All in all, exciting times are ahead !
> >
> > Cheers
> > <k/>
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > 	From: MBurns [mailto:maburns at gmail.com]
> > 	Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 1:43 PM
> > 	To: Krishna Sankar (ksankar); networking at laptop.org
> > 	Subject: Re: [OLPC Networking] Mesh network?
> > 	
> > 	
> >
> >
> > 	On 9/6/06, Krishna Sankar (ksankar) <ksankar at cisco.com> wrote:
> >
> > 		        c)    The mesh (802.11s) will be implemented as
> > a Layer1/L2 artifact
> >
> >
> >
> > 	Nice. This was what I was looking for. Does anyone know on how 
> > well/if at all  802.11s is supported in the wild thus far? Is it 
> > something the OLPC will be building into the networking 
> stack from the 
> > ground up, or is the heavy moving already done?
> > 	
> > 	With regards to an Internet access. I assume that a 
> laptop plugged in 
> > to, say, a modem, or some type of wired connection would seemlessly 
> > (auto-magically?) announce/forward that connection to other 
> laptops on 
> > the ad hoc mesh? Is the idea of 2 different laptops, each with 2 
> > different connections (1 broadband, 1 narrowband 
> connection) both on 
> > the same mesh? Would they both share connectivity, and if 
> so, would we 
> > be providing metrics to choose best route or load balancing?
> > 	
> > 	Finally, will a laptop be able to be on a wireless LAN (802.11g
> > network) and also be able to share/relay that connection to other 
> > laptops (that might be out of range of the .11g network). 
> That is to 
> > say, can we virtualize our wireless nic so as to be on two 
> networks at 
> > once, etc.
> > 	
> > 	Lots of questions and few answers, no doubt. But this 
> is the place to 
> > ask. :)
> > 	
> > 	[/rant]
> > 	
> > 	Michael Burns
> > 	Network Engineering
> > 	Oregon State University
> > 	
> > _______________________________________________
> > Networking mailing list
> > Networking at laptop.org
> > http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/networking
> >
> 
> --
> Kevin Purcell
> kevinpurcell at pobox.com
>