Hello everybody!
This is my final report for GSoC 2017.
I have enjoyed this GSoC a lot. Having the chance to get involved with the LibreMesh development community has been a blessing, thank you Freifunk and GSoC for giving me this opportunity!
This months of coding for LibreMesh have allowed me to learn many new skills while being able to contribute to the common project and getting more involved in the governance and community of the project.
I have been working on many features and most of them have been merged to the LibreMesh main branch, so in the following pages you can find all the technical details of the work done.

Principal contributions

https://github.com/libremesh/spectrum-analyzer-packages

This repository contains all the code related to the spectrum analyzer.

It is also an OpenWRT/LEDE feed, so it can be added to a feeds.conf file to be used as a source of packages.

In this repository you can find:

• Spectral Scan Manager: It manages ath9k states, recovers i/q data from the atheros modules and hands them over through ubus
• Spectral Scan Decoder: FFT_eval wrapper that will receive Spectral Scan Manager i/q data and turn it into JSON
• Spectral Analysis Collector: A configurable daemon that will collect the Spectral Scan Decoder data for further analysis. This collection could be kept in memory or sent to a secondary server (like the OpenPAWS server)
• Visualization Module: Access the information handed by the Decoder or the Collector (depending which information we would like to access) and visualize it in a Waterfall graph.
• OpenPAWS Server: OpenPAWS is an open implementation of the PAWS protocol, TVWS Database. The Spectrum Analyzer can talk to it to inform on the usage of TVWS frequencies.

https://github.com/libremesh/lime-packages

I had the chance to contribute some changes to the LibreMesh core, namely:

• Adding the first steps of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment
• Enhancing LibreMesh LuCI web interface

Outreach activities

As part of my involvement on the LibreMesh team, I got the chance to be part of many outreach activities to spread the word:

• Community Networks in Africa Summit: Videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi2ljTGe63GIB_WMlbKsz8Rym95uvqbR_ and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi2ljTGe63GJyUimBKOywyKIyV9w_vVBr
• Freifunk talk about LibreRouter, where LibreMesh runs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gUvNM8Zbqs
• LibreMesh talk in Greek for Sarantaporo.gr Community Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfOlSxHQsQ

Things I had to learn

This were the things that I had to got deep into to get things done during the GSoC:

• OpenWRT/LEDE Build pipeline
• ath9k module functionality
• LuCI module creation
• Data visualization and D3.js Visualization tool

Reports on Freifunk blog

During my GSoC I did some articles about the life of a GSoC and LibreMesh/OpenWRT/LEDE programmer:

• https://blog.freifunk.net/2017/05/31/spectrum-analyzer-context-librerouter/

  https://blog.freifunk.net/2017/06/23/spectrum-analyzer-librerouter-june-updates/

  https://blog.freifunk.net/2017/06/26/choosing-spectrogram-visualization-library-javascript/

  https://blog.freifunk.net/2017/06/29/tdd-unit-testing-lua-openwrtlede-case/

  https://blog.freifunk.net/2017/07/02/easy-ubus-daemons-rpcd/

  https://blog.freifunk.net/2017/07/09/pubsub-messaging-ubus-lua/

Things done

• Collaborations on LibreMesh core: https://github.com/libremesh/lime-packages/commits/develop?author=nicopace
• GUI for Spectrum Analyzer: https://github.com/nicopace/spectrum-gui demo: https://nicopace.github.io/spectrum-gui/
• Complementary modules for flexibility of Spectrum Analyzer: https://github.com/libremesh/spectrum-analyzer-packages/commits/master?author=nicopace
• Added support for JSON output and conditional SDL dependencies to FFT_eval: https://github.com/simonwunderlich/FFT_eval/commits/master?author=nicopace
• Mailing list contributions (look for “Nicolas Pace”):
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-dev/2017-June/author.html
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-dev/2017-July/author.html
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-dev/2017-August/author.html
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-users/2017-May/author.html
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-users/2017-June/author.html
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-users/2017-July/author.html
  • https://lists.libremesh.org/pipermail/lime-users/2017-August/author.html

Things to be done

• Proper packaging: right now the packages are not ready yet, so manual installation is required. I’m getting into this in the upcoming weeks.

  Variable frequencies: right now the Visualization Module only shows frequencies in the 5Ghz range. Refactor the code to be able to display all frequencies.

  Integration with LuCI: A LuCI module would be much more practical for integration with the rest of the architecture.

Future enhancements

• Support for frequency shifters: there is a device that allows to do frequency shifting between 2.4Ghz and TVWS frequencies by connecting it to the radio conector.. Allow the system to be able to support it, namely, configure that there is one connected in a specific interface, and shift frequencies detected accordingly.
• Add Support as an OpenPAWS agent: The scans done by this module could be used as an input for the OpenPAWS Server to monitor TVWS frequencies use and be able to handover frequencies based on current usage. For that, an agent needs to be developed that consumes the Spectral Analysis Collector data and sends it to the OpenPAWS Server.

Final Thoughts

The project has been very successful for me to get more deeply involved with the LibreMesh community.

Also, it helped me understand the complexity and diversity of knowledge required to engage with FLOSS projects.

Moving forward, I commit to continue working with the LibreMesh project.

Will continue mantaining the packages I produced and learning from the community to better serve it.