[plug] Wireless Ad-Hoc and Mesh networking test

[Adrian Woodley]

G'day Pluggers,

As mentioned yesterday, I'm keen conduct a test of Ad-Hoc wireless 
networking under Linux, using plug member's laptops (or other devices).

I envisage the test being broken into two steps; establishing an ad-hoc 
network and implementing a mesh-routing protocol.

The first step will have all devices within range of each other and no 
special routing will be required. The aim is to establish how easily two 
(or more) Linux devices can be made to talk to each other, without any 
supporting infrastructure.

The second step will implement a mesh network using OLSR[1] as the 
routing protocol. This should allow the network to be physically 
extended, such that not all devices are within range of each other, yet 
all devices will be able to communicate with every other device by 
routing through those nearby.

To participate in these tests you'll need a laptop (or other Linux 
device) with a wireless network card. Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10) has ad-hoc 
networking support via Network Manager. I'm not sure about what version 
of are platforms provide this (Fedora, OpenSUSE, etc).

If you don't use Network Manager, the following script can be used to 
setup an adhoc network. You'll need to have avahi-autoipd installed.

-->%--

#!/bin/bash
WIFI=wlan0

ip link set dev $WIFI down
iwconfig $WIFI mode adhoc
iwconfig $WIFI essid PLUG
ip link set dev $WIFI up
avahi-autoipd -D --force-bind $WIFI

--%<--

OLSR can be setup in the following way:

sudo apt-get install olsrd
sudo sed -i 's/Interface "eth1"/Interface "wlan0"/' /etc/olsrd/olsrd.conf

make sure wlan0 matches your wireless device.

This will setup olsrd, but not enable to run at startup.

If you're interested in doing further testing, you can also install 
mobilemesh and batmand.\

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to make up a live CD to set this 
all up automatically.

Anyway, hope to see you all out at Christ Church Grammar this evening 
for the great Ad-Hoc wifi test and the PLUG AGM.

Cheers,

Adrian