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Mesh or Hub-and-Spoke Network

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AF6AS
Mesh or Hub-and-Spoke Network
I'm a newbie to AREDN/HSMM, and I'm confused. When I first heard about the subject, I understood it to be a mesh network where every new node helped to expand the network through its location and omnidirectional antennae. Now, I'm getting the impression that HSMM has been replaced by AREDN, Linksys hardware has been replaced by Ubiquiti, and omnidirectiomal coverage has been replaced by high gain directional antennae. Which is true?

Also, can I reflash my Linksys with a Raspberry Pi? My only Windows device is a tablet with no ethernet. I'm not sure if I could use a USB to ethernet converter through the OTG port.

Thanks and 73 de AF6AS.
K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
Hi David, welcome to AREDN!
Hi David, welcome to AREDN!

"...a mesh network where every new node helped to expand the network through its location and omnidirectional antennae."
You have many choices for antennas, some deployments use omni, some use sectors, some use dishes.  It's up to your network design on which to use and where.  3 sectors (covering 360 degrees) will give much better coverage than a single omni.

"Now, I'm getting the impression that HSMM has been replaced by AREDN"
I think you mean BBHN, not HSMM.  AREDN is a High-Speed-MultiMedia network.  The AREDN team consists of the majority of the active BBHN developers that built BBHN versions 1.x thru 3.0.2 and ported it to Ubiquiti hardware.  AREDN was formed last year with a primary focus on supporting EMCOMM deployments with high-quality, robust, and powerful hardware.

"Linksys hardware has been replaced by Ubiquiti"
Yes.  The Linksys device was most certainly showing it's age and was incapable of supporting the features that EMCOMM deployments are requiring.

"omnidirectiomal coverage has been replaced by high gain directional antennae."
(see above)

"Also, can I reflash my Linksys with a Raspberry Pi?"
No.  You CAN reflash your Linksys with DD-WRT firmware (or similar) to make it a standard WiFi access point for local wireless access to the mesh. (when connected to an AREDN node's LAN port.)  Many people are using RPi's as a supporting service device connected to the LAN port of an AREDN node to provide a rich set of services, such as network management, VOIP PBX systems, advanced chat servers, webservers, file servers, etc.

"My only Windows device is a tablet with no ethernet. I'm not sure if I could use a USB to ethernet converter through the OTG port."
(see my note above about Linksys with DD-WRT)

Glad you are here!  There are lots of folks here to help answer questions.

73, Darryl - K5DLQ
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
AF6AS,
AF6AS,

"replace" wouldn't be the best word that fits.   Rather, "upgraded" or "evolved" to and still "compatible with".   Now we have all kinds of antenna options with Ubiquiti to connect in the longer distances.  We still have on the mesh networks Linksys BBHN devices and also Ubiquiti-AREDN devices around (so we can reminisce of the old days ;) ).    It's just that now days you can buy a $40 Ubiquiti AirRouter and get 10x power and receive sensitivity more than the linksys with same port count and packaging.   You'd also never want to put a linksys or airRouter outdoors on the roof, would just cost you more to get antenna and enclosure when you can buy a ubiquiti device meant for this purpose at lower cost.  

What I'd recommend is to buy a Ubiquiti AirGateway for $20 and a Ubiquiti Nanostation for $40 (used) to $80 (new) to get involved.   The AirGateway out-of-box can be configured to extend the LAN of the mesh node (of the Nanostation) to wifi devices.  You can then use a laptop or mobile device to directly connect via wifi to the mesh network through the AirGateway.    If you want to connect more devices, e.g. an ipCam or voip phone, or attach to your home network, then add the Ubiquiti AirRouter for another $45.

Joe AE6XE
kk6fut
Hi guys, being new to mesh
Hi guys, being new to mesh networking, just a comment.

I absolutely love what you guys are doing with AREDN and the Ubiquiti. It is absolutely the way forward.

However, I do have to say that -- although not the way to deploy a widespread mesh network (for the reasons you note above) -- I am very happy that the Linksys WRT54G code is out there. I *never* would be here (with a Ubiquiti / AREDN node installed) if the Linksys WRT54G code wasn't out there and available to play with. They are out on Craigslist for as little as $5, and there's no way you could build your own mesh network to experiment with for so little. So, I know you guys **really** have a sore point with the old Linksys WRT54G (I am sure there is history and politics there and probably some sore feelings), but I wouldn't discount it from the point that without it, your efforts to recruit more hams to try out mesh networking won't have an easy entry point.  (Case in point... The *only* current Ubiquiti AREDN node I can get to is 18 miles away, on top of a mountain peak... not so much a mesh as a point-to-point link.... and even at $40 each I'm not about to go buy a bunch of nodes just to play with them. Whereas, I can better understand the simple mesh network of three WRT54G's in my garage, for less than $20. ) NO, I wouldn't mount a WRT54G on my roof, and no, it's not the way forward... but as an experimenter's platform and an "intro to mesh" you can't beat it.

I say: go ahead, load the old WRT54G's up and learn how this all works (or for your own mini mesh experiments, playing with Raspberry Pi, etc.)... and when it does, and you want to connect to other hams, invested in a Ubiquiti node with AREDN -- put it up outside -- and help extend the mesh!

Ben
KK6FUT


 
K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
Point noted.
Point noted.
However, I've talked to many meshers who where really disappointed with the performance of a WRT node and were "turned-off" of mesh networking as, "it doesn't work well enough for a real-deployment".  Will they work in a basement, garage, office, sure, but once you are ready to "go for it", then you have to make an additional investment in other gear.  That's what I'm trying to avoid with my advice.
I want everyone that tries mesh networking to say "wow.  this stuff is amazing!"  I absolutely encourage people to train and practice with the mesh.  The more you do, the more comfortable you will be with it (like most things in this world).

No offense intended.

73, Darryl
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
KK6FUT,  

KK6FUT,  

I actually never knew, meet, or even talked to any of the linksys folks still back on bbhn.org, so no history on my part.    My concerns come from my experience with using linksys hardware in the past for learning and getting starting.   I encountered  problems inherent with the hardware and old OS.    It also lacks features that exist today in AREDN.  For example, no support for dtdlink out-of-box to connect mesh nodes together--a hardware problem in the linksys switch.   The add-on tunnel installs for linksys, have some bugs.  These things have instructions in the forums to manually hack to get working in linux, so there is a way to get there.       

For someone new to start learning on WRT54G's, there are unique hurdles, that when you figure out how to get over, don't help transition to Ubiquity equipment to get involved with a local mesh network.   The extra cost to start out with ubiquiti hardware may be worth avoiding such issues.  But if the end goal is to join a local mesh network, the linksys path is extra cost and sweat to get there.

Joe AE6XE

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