Mesh/Network topology

wifi topology

We use 2.4 ghz 802.11g or 802.11n wifi gear with omni or semi-directional antennas to provide connectivity to devices such as laptops and smartphones at street level and within buildings. We are currently using mostly Ubiquiti Picostation 2 HP and Ubiquiti Bullet 2 HP routers for the outdoors. For the indoors we will likely use TP-Link TL-WR703N routers.

A high-speed wireless backbone for the mesh will be provided by 5 ghz 802.11n hardware, usually with point to point or point to multipoint connections mounted in high places such as on rooftops, flagpoles or antenna towers. We currently have a variety of Ubiquiti M5 routers such as airgrids, nanobridges, nanostations and a rocket.

All of the outdoor gear will be Power over Ethernet (PoE), requiring only a single cable for network and power connectivity.

mesh topology

All routers run the batman-adv mesh routing protocol. This is a layer 2 protocol (operating at the ethernet layer). The street-level 2.4 ghz routers should ideally be able to function in the event that e.g. an earthquake takes out all of the point to point and point to multipoint rooftop nodes (more alignment sensitive) and the mesh should remain functional, though it could become segmented into several non-connected segments.