Difference between revisions of "Mesh/Technical Overview"

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Our mesh has two types of nodes: Home nodes and extender nodes.
Our mesh has two types of nodes: Home nodes and extender nodes.


The home nodes run the full sudowrt firmware and a network of only home nodes can make a functioning mesh network if they are within 200 meters and line-of-sight of each other. The home node is a normal five-ethernet-port indoor wifi router. An extender node runs a minimal firmware and does nothing on its own. Instead, the extender node basically acts as an extra radio and extends the networks reach when plugged in to a home node.  
The home node is a 5 ethernet port wifi router that runs the full sudowrt firmware. A network of home nodes can make a mesh network if they are within the same proximity e.g 200 meters and line-of-sight of each other. Beyond the home nodes broadcast area, an extender node needs to be connected to a home node to broadcast to distant neighbours. An extender node runs a minimal firmware and does nothing on its own, but if its connected to a home node it will serve as an extra radio and extend the reach of the network.
The node operator can choose to put a home node in e.g. their living room and if they decide they want a high speed directional link to a neighbour then they can put e.g. a Nanobridge M5 running the extender node firmware on their roof and connect it via ethernet to the home node. Or they could put a Nanostation M2 pointed out of their window and extend the signal further out into the street or to nearby neighbours. Each extender node extends all three networks (explained in the next section).
The node operator can choose to put a home node in e.g. their living room and if they decide they want a high speed directional link to a neighbour then they can put e.g. a Nanobridge M5 running the extender node firmware on their roof and connect it via ethernet to the home node. Or they could put a Nanostation M2 pointed out of their window and extend the signal further out into the street or to nearby neighbours. Each extender node extends all three networks (explained in the next section).