So, it appears that implementing munchkinesque networks
using current 802.11-inspired attention flash does not
appear very high on FoRK's agenda. It doesn't even raise
enough attention to whine, bitch and moan about it. Too bad.
I'll try it once again.
Here's a guy with a DSL line who uses 802.11 wireless for
his roaming laptop, and for letting his housemates share
the line. Add a second card (and maybe a signal booster
and/or a directional antenna), and you can link up to another
such cell down the street.
If you can't put a complete (noisy, tied to the power grid)
machine, or want to boost the range: LinuxBIOS allows you to
build a cheap solid-state (rugged, small footprint, entirely
commodity off the shelf part) machine which you could put up
somewhere high and administer remotely, say via an authenticated
browser session from your living room. It's booting from
flash/DiskOnChip, and then runs from a large ramdisk (it
doesn't only route, it is also a storage node). You start
with a Linux router running an IPsec, after a few months you
wind up with something leaner and meaner.
If you pack it into a sealed flat case with a few silica
bags and an amorphous silicon solar panel on top (maybe with sufficiently
dimensioned sealed lead-acid batteries in warmer climates if you
want the node to stay up all night), you'll get a node that boots
up within a few seconds with the sunrise, and stays up until dark.
Such a box would be priceless for 3rd world countries with
their largely useless telephone networks. I'm sure there's a
business plan buried in there somewhere.
It can be installed (preferably somewhere high) everywhere.
Look, no wires, mom. It is possible to greatly extend the
range by using a directional antenna (helical ones might
be suitable for the frequency range). While illegal in
most countries, it also reduces the probability that the
men with rotating antennas on their cars will find it.
It will be utterly impossible to find if you go optical,
using near-infrared or visible LEDs and laser diodes,
because you don't see the collimated beam unless you're
in line of sight.
I dunno if you noticed, but some people are launching a
satellite for dirt cheap (cheap as in many people here could
afford it) now. Well, as long as it's coke-can sized, and
doesn't have to stay up there for a decade. If you make it
equip it with a GPS, it will know it's own ephemerides, so
you know where to direct your antenna (or program your phased
antenna array) when it whizzes by. Instead of using maildrop
deliveries (insert a message into onboard flash, to be delivered
at GPS coordinates XY) you can use intersatellite routing if
you get a critical density of them little blighters. All in low,
relatively short-lived orbits, of course.
If you think I'm on crack, wait for another decade.
Now tell me what you know.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Apr 27 2001 - 23:13:55 PDT