Wireless for communities

When networks come out of the home or office and connect whole neighborhoods or cities, they make it much easier for all citizens and residents to get information and join in society. Wireless technologies offer many advantages over wired systems for broadband networks within communities. Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are being deployed in hundreds of locations around the globe and represent a new wave of innovation.

Although 802.11 and WiMAX are currently the most common solutions, and new systems are being tested. One interesting option consists of White Space Devices, which operate in unused television frequencies. These devices have a lot of potential because the frequencies have a powerful reach and can easily penetrate walls and other barriers. After all, that's why the frequencies were chosen for television in the first place.

There are four aspects to creating a network that helps all residents of a city get online:

Wireless connections Mesh architecture Open technology Dynamic routing

Together they make a network that's adaptable, high bandwidth, low-cost, and good for community-building. We'll look at each of these aspects.

Wireless connections

Wired technology has dominated communications since the age of the telegraph. The wireless media of the 19th and 20th centuries became broadcast media (radio and television), which played a huge role in society, but rarely became tools for empowering individuals to talk to each other.

The cables on telephone poles or buried underground are very costly and require enormous amounts of labor to deploy and maintain. Technologically, our current wiring is antiquated , but that's being fixed wherever companies or cities are installing optical fiber, which carries huge amounts of data. More importantly as a concept, wiring is antiquated. You and your friends want to find each other any place you might be, and you don't want to be stuck next to a wired telephone or desktop computer.

Over the next decade, cost-saving wireless technologies will inevitably replace local wired systems. For 1/10th to 1/100th the cost of tearing up roads or setting up poles, rooftop antennas with “smart radio” technology can be easily installed to deliver services using the airwaves. As more users come online and the wireless cloud spreads over an entire community, the technology becomes cheaper, faster, and more robust.

Mesh architecture

Like the spokes on a bicycle wheel, “hub-and-spoke” wireless systems connect users to a centrally-located broadcast tower. These networks are resource-intensive. They require a tower, specialized broadcasting equipment, and constant maintenance of the hub, an extremely vulnerable, single point of failure. Some of these systems use line-of-sight technologies, meaning you have to be able to see the access point in order for the radio waves to get to it. (The waves can't pass through walls, trees, hills, etc.)

Robust and reliable, mesh wireless systems offer multiple points of connection to the network and no central tower. Mesh users can bypass obstacles such as hills and trees by using different signal paths. Mesh networks are easily expandable at very low cost, and they have no single point of failure. Mesh networks also feature shorter distances between nodes, which means each antenna can broadcast at lower power, creating less interference and allowing more users to communicate simultaneously.

Open technology

Proprietary or “closed” networks do not communicate with each other. Even in a dynamic mesh system, these networks create unconnected wireless islands within a single neighborhood. Clients are often forced to overpay for equipment, because only one manufacturer makes it, and are forced to buy more equipment from the same manufacturer so the different devices are sure to work together.

Proprietary network software stifles innovation and collaboration among entrepreneurs and programmers. Local developers can't modify closed software with new innovations, so neighborhoods can't adapt networks to their particular needs and strengths. Often, design flaws and security holes go unfixed because everybody has to wait for the equipment manufacturer to get around to it.

The success of the Internet itself demonstrates how open standards and open source provide a foundation for building new wealth, a platform for innovation, and a basis for low-cost computing solutions. Open standards lead to products that work together even if made by different companies. The public ends up with lower-cost equipment (because of competition) and sometimes the bandwidth is even used more efficiently because more transmitters are cooperating. Open source code lends itself to innovation and development, a huge advantage for local developers with new ideas for community applications and entrepreneurs with the imagination to create useful new products.

Dynamic routing

Mesh networks require many "hops" to get a message from one device to another. The network has to figure out which devices to pass each message through, a job called "routing."

If the network plans all routes in advance, it is considered a static network. Once a cutting-edge technology, static networks are now seen as difficult to plan, build, manage, and expand. Developers must map out in advance the pathways that network signals will follow to ensure reliable service. This means that if an obstacle — lsuch as a growing tree — blocks a user’s connection, or if new users wish to come onto the network, the entire network may need to be reconfigured so signals can reach them. A static network an inflexible system that is easily disrupted. The result is often an expensive, inefficient network with severe limitations on expansion.

A dynamic wireless network constantly adapts its wireless links to cope with new conditions. It automatically adjusts its pathways to integrate new homes and businesses and offers higher capacity to a wider coverage area. This kind of network is strengthened as the subscriber base grows. It changes patterns of use to bypass interference, blockage, or network congestion. Dynamic networks are more flexible and resilient than comparatively rigid and fragile static networks.

SOCIAL BENEFITS OF WIRELESS

The general public can be media producers – broadcasting Internet radio, self publishing journalism, displaying art projects, etc.

Universities, colleges, and K-12 classrooms can cheaply establish wireless networks – saving lots of money onequipment and maintenance versus wired networks.

Health-care providers can transfer information – servingto patients with limited mobility, and exchanging patient information quickly and securely among doctors, clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals.

Governments can launch democratic initiatives – such as online voter registration, directions to polling stations, bill payment, access to tax advice, and public service announcements.

Wireless infrastructures offer job creation opportunities – businesses take advantage of high-speed, low-cost communications, and lower barriers to entering markets;. low-income residents can look for jobs and work from home

Visitors for business and tourism are encouraged – because they can easily and cheaply communicate with their families and corporate offices.