Wireless Community Weekend 2008 in Berlin

vom Freitag 2. bis Sonntag 4. Mai 2008 werden freifunk.net, c-base und die Berliner Community wieder ein *Wireless Community Weekend* auf der c-base Raumstation in Berlin ausrichten. Für den Event hat Cven bereits eine Wikiseite eingerichtet unter:
https://wiki.freifunk.net/Wireless_Community_Weekend_2008_c-base_berlin.

Unter „Wishlist“ gibt es hier Platz für euer Topic-Brainstorming.

neben den bereichen routing, hardware,firmware und layer8, werden wir auch probieren einige papers zu erarbeiten, die den umgang, mit den in einem mesh/community/network anfallenden daten beschreibt, und es waere auch schoen, wenn wir als gegenstueck zu der lobbyarbeit von einigen firmen und anderen angstmachern, richtern und anwaelten eine art "leitfaden" fuer den umgang mit community netzwerken und gateways an die hand geben koennten.

Da genau dafuer aber 3 tage nicht ausreichen, wird es ende januar einen termin fuer juristen geben, wo wir probieren moechten einige ziele auszuarbeiten und anzuformulieren, damit wir dann waerend des wcw2008 nicht bei null anfangen muessen. (Cven)

Wireless Community Weekend in Graz vom 14.-16. September

Funkfeuer.at richtet vom 14.September – 16.September 2007 ein WirelessCommunityWeekend in Graz aus. Viel Spaß!
(via Cven)

Freie Netzwerkprojekte aus verschiedenen Teilen Europas treffen sich zum Erfahrungsaustausch und zur Diskussion über gemeinsame Projekte und Visionen. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt wird zu aktellen Entwicklungen freier Mesh Routing Protokolle gesetzt. EntwicklerInnen verschiedener Projekte werden über den Stand der Forschung informieren und zu Diskussionen anregen. 15. – 16. September 2007, 14 – 22h

https://wiki.graz.funkfeuer.at/WirelessCommunityWeekend

Webcamzeitraffer vom Chaos Communication Camp 2007

Der Vorratsdatenspeicher vom Chaos-Camp 2007 gibt derzeit einiges der gesammelten Daten Preis. Hier findet Ihr also den Zeitraffer von der Webcam, welche auf dem Antennenmast installiert war, als >> divx-Video

Podcasts über das Chaos Communication Camp 2007 von Rundfreifunk

Rundfreifunk sendete einige Sendungen live und direkt vom Chaos Communication Camp 2007. Zu empfangen waren die Sendungen – insgesamt 7 Stunden verteilt auf 3 Tage – in Leipzig per UKW und im Internet via Live-Streaming.

Die Sendungen sind mittlerweile im Archiv online auf >> http://rund.freifunk.net << und es geht natürlich um das Camp und z.B. um Vorratsdatenspeicherung, Freifunk, Camp-WLAN und Hackertools.

Wireless OpenHardware

Hi all,

at the fantastic WSFII meeting during SAX at guifi.net in Spain we started to specify two wireless hardware devices. There were people from various free wireless network communites from Europe and the US. We had a three hour workshop and tried to define our wish list for cheap free open source software compatible open wireless hardware. Now we are trying to find the manufacturers who is willing to build those devices.

If you have any contacts that could help, please talk to them and show them our results. The company should best sell those products direct to the communites over webshop and only ship the bulk boards in charges of 20,50,100 or more. We think, that’s the best way to make them as cheep as possible.

There are quite a lot of people willing to help in e.g. software/driver-development or hardware-design. I am very positive that sooner or later some manufacturer is going to see their chance in our global movement!

JuergeN

— SCHNIPP —

1. Simple Node
– single wireless a/b/g radio device with support for virtual access points
– single Ethernet port with high tolerance PoE support (4-30V)
– power system must resist reverse polarity
– 4 Mbyte Flash
– 16 Mbyte RAM
– 200 MHz CPU
– serial port
– JTAG interface
– one Antenna plug (reverse SMC) and no explicit need for diversity
– for outdoor usage (which is regarded to be a standard scenario) the
board does not need a box and does not need to be shipped with antenna
and power supply
– power consumption should be as little as possible (solar systems!)

Comment: Finding the consensus on the design for the simple node was
quite easy and did not take very long. It seams that the needs and
wishes of the different groups represented by the attendees are very
similar.

2. Super Node
– two embedded wireless a/b/g radio devices with support for virtual
access points
– two Ethernet ports with standard 802.3af PoE support
– power system must resist reverse polarity
– 8 Mbyte Flash
– 32 Mbyte RAM
– 500 MHz CPU
– two USB 2.0 ports
– two miniPCI slots (both stackable up to 8 cards)
– serial port
– JTAG interface
– two Antenna plugs (reverse SMC) and no explicit need for diversity
– for outdoor usage (which is regarded to be a standard scenario) the
board does not need a box and does not need to be shipped with antennas
and power supply
– power consumption should be as little as possible (solar systems!)

Comment: Finding a compromise on the super node really was a hard time,
because there can be different ways to achieve the same goals. For
example, if wireless USB devices had a better FOSS support, many of the
super nodes could just easily be built without the need for miniPCI.
Also super nodes can be built with simple wireless bridges connected
over ethernet (high power consumption?). But anyway, after many looong
discussions the group had a consensus on the points listed above.

3. wireless USB devices
As already mentioned, super nodes could well be build using wireless USB
devices instead of mini PCI cards (less expensive cabling, less
interference between the devices). But to be able to use them, people
need FOSS drivers for them, which support all wireless modes (managed,
ad-hoc, AccessPoint), and the USB devices should have a reverse SMC
antenna connector.

— SCHNAPP —

http://wiki.freifunk.net/OpenHardware

Podcast von der B.A.T.M.A.N.-Release-Party in Berlin auf Rundfreifunk

(via Ufo)
Am letzten Sonntag liefen auf Rundfreifunk Interviews von der B.A.T.M.A.N.-Release-Party. Die Party fand auf der c-base in Berlin statt. Die Sendung findet man nun auch online unter http://www.public-ip.org/sendung-170.html. Darin unter anderem Interviews mit: Elektra, Sven-Ola., Tetzlav, Ludger und Poelzi zu OLSR, BATMAN, Firewalls und Puffer-/Pollraten…

Rundfreifunk sendet in Leipzig auf UKW und im Internet unter http://rund.freifunk.net und http://www.public-ip.org.

Viel Spaß beim Hören! 

SAX2007: International WSFII Summit in Catalonia

(via Jürgen Neumann, original post @ http://guifi.net/ca/SAX2007En)

In Katalonien findet im Juli ein interessantes Communitytreffen statt. Vielleicht interessiert es einige Freifunker.

This year, the traditional meeting for the free civil networks in
Catalonia (SAX) will be extended to new contents, will take a week and
will be extended to new participants worldwide and therefore affiliated
to the WSFII (World 
Summit for Free Information Infrastructures). The registration will be
free and everyone interested in developing non-proprietary networks is
invited.

The main purpose of the SAX & WSFII event in
Catalonia is to empower and develop at all levels the civilian, open
and free infrastructures as an alternative to the classic
proprietary/corporate owned or operated network models. Around this
objective, we plan to have presence with panelists from all the actors
involved, including local government, enterprises of any size,
regulator authority, and of course, the geek community involved in the
research and development activities and the users in general.

You
should come to this SAX2007 & WSFII  event if you are part of a
user community or you want to start one, a local government or local
business and you whish to share your experience or understand how free
networks can become a success and sustainable instead of just draining
funds to feed unprofitable "business" models.

Take a look at the schedule. Wou'll see there the topics and the major actors of the open networks worldwide. 

The
event will be scheduled by days; some might be in parallel (stay tuned
to the schedule, which may change until the very last day): 

In all cases, will be keynotes, panelists and open discussions. Where makes sense, will be also practical exercises.

  • Business day. How
    can any business be friendly developed within the context of neutral
    and free infrastructures? How this can provide good ROI cases and boost
    productivity? What is saying the Spanish regulators about that? Success
    stories.
  • Developer's day. How developers, hackers and geeks can contribute? Which are the methodologies for doing so? Hacking, new things, what to do…
  • Backbone day.
    Keeping the network up to date to the state of the art of the
    technology. We will configure a telecommunications tower with both long
    distance links and CPE coverage to the users at Sant Bartomeu del Grau.
  • Local government and municipalities day.
    What means civil and free networks and which unique benefits local
    governments and municipalities can take from them? Why they are a great
    opportunity for developing the civil society and increase digital
    inclusion percentages up to unprecedented levels? Real world examples:
    Hear some elected people experiencies and regulators. Understand how
    more than 40 municipalities have succesfully participated in building
    free networks around guifi.net.
  • User's day. How
    it works and how non-technical people can participate in the free
    networks? Benefits. How to connect. What has to be done at home.
    Equipments to buy or consct. Trainings.
  • "guifi.net tour". Visit and see how solar powered backbone long-distance links provide broadband access to rural areas in the pyrenees mountains.
  • Community day. What we can do, as a community, to help each other? Find out synergies, common tactics and strategies.
    • In Catalonia (SAX)
    • In Spain (redlibre)
    • South Europe, Europe worldwide and developing countries (WSFII)

Everyone interested in adding content to the SAX&WSFII is very
welcome, just contact us. Only take in mind that SAX&WSFII is about
free (as in freedom, not as in beer or as in built with open source but
proprietary) network infrastructures.

WiOpt’08 – International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks

(vie Thomas Hirsch)
Vielleicht interessant für den ein oder anderen, der der Wissenschaftswelt einmal über seine Erfahrungen und Ergebnisse im Freifunk-Netz berichten möchte.

Was bringts:
– Feedback. Das Papier wird auf jeden Fall von drei Leuten aus verschiedenen Fachgebieten quergelesen. Anschließend darf man einen Vortrag vor noch mehr Leuten halten, und wird im Konferenzjournal abgedruckt. Potentiell erreicht man also viele Leute, die Ahnung von Mesh-Dingen haben, Interessante Dinge  mit Funknetzen machen, oder sich das ganze auch mal nur aus der Mathematikerbrille betrachten.
– Aufmerksamkeit über den eigenen Kiez hinaus.

Übersicht über die Beiträge und Teilnehmer hier:
http://www.wiopt.org/wiopt07/program.html

#####   ANNOUNCEMENT / CALL FOR PAPER    ######
WiOpt'08
6th Intl. Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks March 31 – April 4, Berlin, Germany
http://www.wiopt.org

Scope of the Symposium
This symposium intends to bring together researchers and practitioners working on optimization of wireless network design and operations. It welcomes works on different perspectives, including performance analysis and simulation, protocol design, numerical communication and optimization theory, for all forms of wireless networks: cellular, wide, metropolitan, local and personal-area networks, dense and sparse ad-hoc networks, domain specific vehicular, public-transport, application-specific sensor networks, as well as any combination of these.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

* Modeling, simulations and measurements
* Protocol design
* Spectrum allocation
* Security and intrusion detection
* Pricing and incentives
* Scalability, manageability and optimization
* System capacity and performance
* Mobility and multihoming
* Opportunistic and cooperative scheduling
* Cognitive radio
* Interference control
* Energy efficiency

Submissions

The submission format for the papers is an extended abstract, up to eight pages long. Please use the IEEE Transactions format, 11 pt character size, one column text, one-and-a-half line spacing, letter paper. This page budget should contain all figures, tables, references, etc. The extended abstract should also include a brief abstract of up to 150 words. The submission will be handled via EDAS ( http://edas.info ). Only PDF files are acceptable; please make sure that the paper prints without problems (take care to embed all required fonts, etc.). Adjunct Workshops Several one-day workshops are planned to accompany the main WiOpt

Symposium:

WiNMee/WiTMeMo 2008 : International Workshop On Wireless Network Measurement RAWNET 2008 : Resource Allocation in Wireless Networks
SPASWIN 2008: Spatial Stochastic Models for Wireless Networks
WNC3 2008 : Wireless Networks: Communication, Cooperation and Competition

Important Dates

Conference: April 1-3, 2008
Workshops: March 31-April 4, 2008
Submission deadline: October 1, 2007
Notification of acceptance: December 15, 2007 Camera-ready copy: January
15, 2007

B.A.T.M.A.N.-Release-Party at the c-base in Berlin

(via Marek Lindner) Time: Wednesday 20th June
2007 / Place: c-base berlin

The B.A.T.M.A.N.-developer team would
be happy to celebrate with YOU the 0.2 release of B.A.T.M.A.N. at
the C-Base (in Berlin). FYI, there will also be a free barrel of cool
beer waiting to be flushed. Version 0.2 can reasonably be called
stable now. It works quite performant, supports multiple interfaces,
has a low CPU-load, a robustly working algorithm underneath, and
autonomously negotiates UDP-Tunnels to GWs  which ultimately
enables long-term and stable internet connections. A number of users
reported quite excitedly about the amazing experiences they made with
this protocol. Well, we want to stay neutral so join in to hear them
and try batman for yourself.

Currently B.A.T.M.A.N is
available for Linux only. The ports for Mac OS-X and BSD have fallen
asleep and are waiting for a diligent bee … Maybe there will once
also exist a windows port.

Many thanks to all the people who
helped to realize this in such a short amount of time.

Merchandizing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
We
are thinking about printing further T-shirts with the
B.A.T.M.A.N.-Logo (as you can see on http://open-mesh.net/batman
) and sell them at the cost of expenses. Unfortunately the price is
not clear by now but will be about or less than 15 Euro. If you are
interested please send a mail with your size and the limit you are
willing to pay.

Considerations for the parallel operation of
OLSR and
B.A.T.M.A.N.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In
Berlin we are now facing a phase in which both routing protocols will
be used in parallel. Currently we are aware of one issue where this
can cause problems. This is in case of OLSR-Internet traffic passing
a dual-stack (OLSR and B.A.T.M.A.N.) node where the B.A.T.M.A.N
daemon is configured for tunneled GW selection. Then each
OLSR-towards-internet packet will be magically caught and warped to
the currently selected (and maybe several hops away) B.A.T.M.A.N. GW.
where the packets pop-up again and follow their usual path through
the internet to their final destination. This has caused confusion
since also programs like traceroute do not show the intermediate hops
which the packet has passed (tunnelled)  between the related
B.A.T.M.A.N. node and the GW.

This is because such a
dual-stack mesh node (where the B.A.T.M.A.N daemon is configured for
tunneled GW selection) consequently has two default routes. One due
to OLSR and another due to B.A.T.M.A.N.. The thing is, that both are
ending up in the same routing table and one of them (the latter) has
a higher priority than the other. So every packet passing along with
a destination address matching only the default entry of the routing
table will end up in the tunnel to the currently selected
B.A.T.M.A.N. GW.

The Internet-GW selection mode of
B.A.T.M.A.N. is optional and should be disabled or used with care
especially on nodes with a dedicated RF-postion (and such used by
many others as an intermediate hop) like churches and other high
buildings. Enduser using Notebooks or PDAs should be able to use this
feature without causing trouble.

Outlook
^^^^^^
In
order to make the parallel deployment of both protocols even more
smoothly, a number of new features have found their way into 0.3.
Then it will also be possible to maintain and use a the OLSR and the
B.A.T.M.A.N. default route in parallel.

Therefore we will also
release the first version of the upcoming B.A.T.M.A.N. generation
(0.3 alpha).

At the same time we already began working on the
next generation of B.A.T.M.A.N. which will be called B.A.T.M.A.N.
Advanced. It works on Layer 2 and creates a virtual network switch of
all nodes participating. It offers a bunch of new possibilities and
features which wait for you to be explored. To offer you a stable
plattform you can experiment with we will release 0.1 alpha. We will
also provide a set of tools (the B.A.T.M.A.N. toolchain – battool)
to bring you in the position to observe the magic and to debug your
setup or our daemon.  😉

B.A.T.M.A.N.-Release-Party in der c-base in Berlin

(via Marek Lindner) Zeit: Mittwoch 20.Juni 2007 / Ort:
c-base berlin

Das B.A.T.M.A.N.-Entwicklerteam freut
sich Euch mitteilen zu können, dass am Abend des 20. Juni die
Veröffentlichung der Programmversion 0.2. mit einem gut
gekühlten Fass FreiBier in der C-Base Berlin gefeiert wird. Die
Programmversion 0.2 kann dann zu Recht als 'Stable' bezeichnet
werden. Sie arbeitet performant, unterstützt mehrere Interfaces,
handelt bei Bedarf selbständig UDP-Tunnels zu Internetgateways
aus, hat eine geringe CPU-Last und einen solide arbeitenden
Algorithmus.  So mancher Anwender berichtet über seine
Erfahrungen mit dem Protokoll mit leuchtenden Augen da
Internetverbindungen wegen der Tunnelfunktion auf einmal stabil
laufen und nicht mehr abbrechen. Würden wir sie jetzt zitieren
klänge das zu sehr nach Werbung, also probiert es selbst. 
😉

Im Moment gibt es B.A.T.M.A.N. nur für Linux, die
Ports für Mac OS-X und BSD sind eingeschlafen und warten auf
fleißige Bienchen die sich darum kümmern. Wir gehen davon
aus, dass sich dafür Leute finden werden, wenn B.A.T.M.A.N.
stärker verbreitet ist. Vielleicht gibt es dann auch einen
Windows-Port.

Vielen Dank an alle, die das in so kurzer Zeit
ermöglicht haben!!!

Merchandising
^^^^^^^^^^
Wir
denken zur Zeit darüber nach, nochmal T-Shirts mit dem
B.A.T.M.A.N.-Logo gegen einen Unkostenbeitrag zu machen.
Vorbestellungen nehmen wir per Mail mit Größenangabe
entgegen. Bitte teilt Uns mit, welche Preisobergrenze Ihr bereit seid
dafür zu bezahlen. Der Preis steht momentan noch nicht fest und
hängt davon ab, wo wir die Shirts drucken lassen. Er sollte aber
um die 15 Euro oder darunter liegen.

Überlegungen zum
Parallel-Betrieb von OLSR und
B.A.T.M.A.N.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Es
steht nun eine Phase bevor, in der beide Routingprotokolle
übergangsweise parallel eingesetzt werden. Das kann zu 
Problemen führen. Sobald der Internet-Traffic von OLSR bei einem
Router mit einem ins Internet tunnelnden B.A.T.M.A.N.-Daemon ankommt,
verschwindet der OLSR-Traffic Richtung Internet auf 'magische' Weise
und findet sich plötzlich im Internet über einen
(möglicherweise einige Hops entfernten) B.A.T.M.A.N.-Gateway
wieder, ohne dass weitere OLSR-Knoten bei einem Traceroute angezeigt
werden.

Ein Router im Parallel-Betrieb hat dann zwei
Defaultrouten ins Internet weil zwei Protokolle nach
Internetanbindung suchen – eine Default-Route von OLSR und eine von
B.A.T.M.A.N., wobei letztere stehts Priorität hat (bedingt durch
die kleinere Metric). Das wird den unangenehmen Effekt haben, dass
jeglicher Internettraffic statt zu einem benachbarten OLSR-Gateway zu
einem B.A.T.M.A.N.-Gateway geroutet wird – nun werden die
OLSR-Gateways nicht mehr benutzt, sobald ein tunnelnder B.A.T.M.A.N.
auf der Route zum OLSR-Gateway liegt.

Der Internet-Such-Modus
von B.A.T.M.A.N. ist optional und sollte daher vorerst nicht auf
Transit-Routen aktiviert werden. Endpunkte, wie z.B. Notebooks, PDAs,
können diese Funktionalität problemlos benutzen.

Blick
nach vorn
^^^^^^^^^^^
Um den Parallel-Bertrieb noch
reibungsloser zu gestalten, fließen bereits etliche
Kompatibilitätsfunktionen in B.A.T.M.A.N. 0.3 ein. Dann wird es
auch möglich sein, eine OLSR und eine B.A.T.M.A.N. default route
nebenher zu betreiben.

Deswegen wollen wir die Gelegenheit
auch gleich nutzen um den ersten Release der gerade entstehenden 0.3
alpha Version zu feiern.

Gleichzeitig haben wir begonnen an
der übernächsten Generation zu arbeiten mit dem alles
sagenden Namen B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced. Er arbeitet auf Layer 2 und
kreiert einen virtuellen Network-Switch zwischen allen am Mesh
teilnehmenden Nodes. Layer 2 emöglicht gleich eine ganze Reihe
von neuen Möglichkeiten die darauf warten ausprobiert zu werden.
Damit es eine stabile Plattform zum experimentieren gibt wollen wir
am 20. 6. auch noch 0.1 alpha von B.A.T.M.A.N.-Advanced releasen. Und
zwar zusammen mit einer ganzen Reihe von Tools die es überhaupt
erst ermöglichen den Zauber auf Netzwerk-Ebene 2
nachzuvollziehen und zu debuggen.