2 Sep
2013
2 Sep
'13
12:53 p.m.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Steve Song" <steve(a)villagetelco.org>
Date: Sep 1, 2013 7:39 AM
Subject: A discussion item for Berlin: an Open Hardware WiFi platform
To: "Ben West" <ben(a)gowasabi.net>et>, "Musti"
<musti(a)wlan-si.net>et>, "L. Aaron
Kaplan" <aaron(a)lo-res.org>rg>, "team(a)wirelesssummit.org" <
team(a)wirelesssummit.org>gt;, "Andrew Reynolds"
<andrew(a)opentechinstitute.org>rg>,
<al.banda(a)activspaces.com>om>, <atunpan(a)ait.asia>ia>, <alwalid(a)accessnow.org>rg>,
<
aabdelaal(a)unomaha.edu>gt;, "Andy Gunn" <andygunn(a)opentechinstitute.org>rg>,
<
behravan(a)demcouncil.org>gt;, <daniel.kitscha(a)ec.europa.eu>eu>, "Michael
Calabrese" <Calabrese(a)newamerica.net>et>, "Brian Duggan" <
bcduggan(a)opentechinstitute.org>gt;, "Daniel Staples" <
danstaples(a)opentechinstitute.org>gt;, "Darby Hickey" <
darbyhickey(a)opentechinstitute.org>gt;, "Andres Astudillo"
<astudillo(a)ieee.org>rg>,
"Dillip Pattanaik" <dillippattanaik(a)gmail.com>om>, <fostee21(a)rpi.edu>du>,
"Andrew
Bolden" <bolden(a)newamerica.net>et>, "Ermanno Pietrosemoli"
<ermanno(a)gmail.com>om>,
"Georgia Bullen" <georgia(a)opentechinstitute.org>rg>, "Geneviève
Bastien" <
gbastien(a)versatic.net>gt;, <hemant(a)nomadindia.net>et>, "Greg Bloom" <
greg.bloom(a)gmail.com>gt;, <horvitz(a)volny.cz>cz>, "Grady Johnson" <
grady(a)opentechinstitute.org>
Cc:
Hi all,
I am looking forward to seeing you all in Berlin in October.
As a primer for the summit, there is something that Nico and Guido from
Altermundi and I have been talking about that we'd like to raise as an
informal discussion item at the summit. We'd like to seek out interest
from other groups in participating in a project to establish an Open
Hardware WiFi platform.
The community wireless movement has grown thanks the ability of Open Source
pioneers to adapt and evolve the OpenWRT operating system which provides a
platform for networks to implement the protocols and services that they
like. The ability to customise commodity wireless routers is at the
foundation of the community wireless movement. While OpenWRT has grown
steadily in robustness and sophistication, another revolution has been
taking place, the Open Hardware movement. Open Hardware has brought
groundbreaking innovations like the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi. It has
galvanised the maker movement and opened the door to hardware creativity.
Perhaps the time has come for an Open Hardware wireless platform that can
be a platform for WiFi hardware innovation and something that all community
wireless networks can benefit from.
The Atheros AR9344 platform is a affordable yet powerful dual radio
platform featuring:
- IEEE 802.11n 2x2 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz System on-a-Chip (SoC)
- 74Kc MIPS processor operating at up to 560 MHz
- 10/100 Ethernet Switch with five IEEE 802.3 Ethernet LAN ports
- USB 2.0 controller with built-in MAC/ PHY supports Host or Device mode
- I2S/SPDIF-out audio interface
- SLIC for VOIP/PCM
- One low-speed UART (115 Kbps), one highspeed UART (3 Mbps), and
multiple GPIO pins for general purpose I/O
It could be the foundation of an Open Hardware WiFi device designed for
community wireless network deployment.
In Berlin, Village Telco and Altermundi would like to invite you discuss
the merits of building an Open Hardware WiFi platform that will be the
commodity WiFi device we always wanted.
Thoughts welcome :)