Re: SFGATE - Free Wireless Everywhere

i joined this list a while back because i'm really interested in this=20
kind of work.  nothings come of it so far, but i would love to be=20
involved somehow.  i'd love to participate in any way.

out of my own curiosity, i recently hacked a USB PrismII 802.11b=20
adapter (the d-link 122) to connect to a cantenna i built from a google=20=

search.  i got really excited when i fired up kismac on my powerbook=20
and the screen filled with signals as i spun the cantenna around my=20
room.  i love this.

besides "how do i participate?", i have a couple other basic question=20
about both BARWN and SFLan:  how does the weather effect the networks=20
in practice?  and are these networks private IP based with NAT=20
gateways?
__
scott leonard, principal
=DF=F8=86 =83=E5=AEm /web services/
http://botfarm.com/

On Jan 23, 2004, at 9:53 AM, Tim Pozar wrote:

> Covers SFLAN and BARWN....
>
> Tim
> --
> Free Wireless Everywhere
> Tech visionaries' new project mirrors roots of Internet
> Neil McAllister, Special to SF Gate
> Friday, January 23, 2004
>
> Brewster Kahle wants to network San Francisco. All of it.
>
> "Basically, what we want is the expectation that if you open your
> laptop or personal digital assistant (PDA) at any given place, you
> have access to the open Internet," he says. And, for Kahle, a slow
> network isn't going to cut it. He wants to move data at the speed
> of DVD video. "Search, click, see movies," he emphasizes. "Now,
> we're not quite there yet. But that's the idea."
>
> It sounds like every broadband Internet service provider's fantasy,
> but it's maybe not as far-fetched as it seems. Over the last year
> or so, small, gray plastic boxes have begun appearing atop homes
> and businesses around San Francisco. Roof by roof, they're bringing
> Kahle's vision of ubiquitous wireless-network access closer to
> reality -- no telephone companies or cable providers required.
>
> The boxes are the work of two local research ventures, each with
> the goal of improving understanding of, and applications for,
> wireless networking. One is SFLan, a project of the Internet Archive,
> the nonprofit organization Kahle created in 1996. The other is the
> Bay Area Research Wireless Network (BARWN), founded by networking
> consultant Tim Pozar and partner Matt Peterson.
>
> Pozar and Peterson designed the hardware shared by both projects
> as a means to deploy a new kind of wireless network. Inside each
> gray box are typical components for a wireless access point:
> off-the-shelf 802.11 network cards powered by a small, single-board
> computer. But, rather than creating traditional wireless hot spots
> like those found in hotels or coffee shops, Pozar and Peterson's
> boxes are engineered specifically for long-distance, outdoor
> applications.
>
> Each box incorporates two high-gain antennas. The first is
> omnidirectional, acting as a beacon of wireless connectivity to the
> immediate area. The second points straight at the nearest neighboring
> rooftop box, or perhaps to the locus of BARWN's most ambitious
> project to date: a powerful antenna high atop San Bruno Mountain.
> In this way, each box is linked to a larger network, forming a
> completely wireless backbone extending across the City and to
> neighboring municipalities.
>
> If you're close enough to a rooftop box (say, within a thousand
> feet), a laptop or PDA may be all you need to join the SFLan network.
> More likely, however, you'll need additional amplifiers or =
after-market
> antennas. The high-gain directional antennas in the gray boxes
> themselves, for example, can see each other from 2 miles away, or
> pull down a signal from the San Bruno Mountain site at a distance
> of up to 8 miles. Once the connection is made, you have an effective
> replacement for traditional broadband.
>
> "You're still going to need something that repeats the signal inside
> your house," explains Kahle.  "You'd put one of these [boxes] up
> on your roof as a replacement for DSL or cable, and then you'd bring
> a wire down into your house to either plug in to your own router
> or hub or to connect to your computer." At the same time, the box
> would rebroadcast the signal to your local neighborhood while paving
> the way for the next rooftop node to join the network, forming a
> daisy chain.
>
> [...]
>
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