Hotspot in a Box

Ive finally managed to put it all together! I believe I have managed to build the ultimate embedded hotspot-in-a-box solution.
What I have done is, put together Chillispot, FreeRadius and phpMyPrepaid on the same box. While this itself is not unique, what separates this from other such initiatives is that all of this comes on a 512MB Compact Flash Disk.
The basic platform is a Soekris Engineering net4801 appliance. This has a decent 128MB of RAM and three Ethernet Interfaces. More details on the Soekris box are here.
The challenge was to look for a Linux distribution that recognised all the hardware on the Soekris, and was small enough to fit on a CF Card. My search lead me to Voyage Linux which is a debian derived distribution with a 66 MB footprint in its basic avatar.
Since I didnt have a CF Card reader, I used my Nikon Coolpix n770 camera as the reader. Attached it to my Ubuntu laptop and the card showed up as a usb disk. Using the voyage installer was a trivial exercise. Once the basic OS was installed, I then plugged the CF Card into the Soekris and watched it boot beautifully over the serial console!!
Once this was done, I connected the Soekris to the Internet and ran apt-update to update the package list.
I then went about installing MySQL, PHP, Lighttpd (lighty) instead of Apache, FreeRadius, Chillispot and Phpmyprepaid.
After two days of fiddling around, I figured out why Chillispot wasnt working properly, rectified it (eth1 has to be 0.0.0.0).
I now have a full fledged hotspot controller which does not need to connect to any centralized Radius Server for authentication.
The Soekris box is currently undergoing burn-in.

The only problem I am facing is that of MySQL tables crashing! I live in an area where power outages are the norm. Thank you DLF for wonderful buildings and crappy infrastructure.
High on my to-do list is change over from MySQL to firebirdSQL (www.firebirdsql.org). Wonder how long will it take to modify phpmyprepaid to work on firebirdsql...

For all your uber-geeks out there, I can send you a copy of the CF card image if you feel a little adventurous. #free -m reports
124 M Total 59M Used 64M Free
The total size of software on CF card is around 370 MB.

Wi-Fi in Trains

Wi-Fi Networking News reported here that Icomera, a Swedish company is rolling out Wi-Fi in UK Train Operator GNER's trains. I called up the Icomera people and spoke with a nice gentleman named Jan Lindberg who said he was in charge of International Business. I asked him whether Icomera was interested in coming to India to roll out Wi-Fi in Indian trains. His answer completely blew me off! He said very apologetically that Icomera was a very small company (about 20 people) and did not have enough bandwidth to go out of Europe. So they don't have any business anywhere except Europe in the "foreseeable future" as he put it.
I really wish some Indian giant takes cognizance of this and goes out and buys these guys out so that we can benefit from their technology. We have after all bought out Corus and Arcelor havent we?

Campus WiFi Tenders: Realistically Speaking..

The other day, a prominent government lab put up a notice inviting tenders for Wi-Fi connectivity at their residential colony. We promptly downloaded the tender specs from their website. The tender appeared to be well written with a lot of care taken to ensure that only the best solution gets selected. On closer look, I was appalled to see some of the so-called specifications! It indicated an absolute lack of expertise in Wi-Fi network capabilities, and technologies. The most damaging spec read as follows:-
" Only one site (also called base station) to be used to install all access points/repeaters and antennae and provide access throughout the campus."
The campus consists of 50 odd buildings, each of 2-4 stories height and medium vegetation. The campus itself is about 1 sq km in size. I decided that the place was worth a visit and some discussions with the concerned people was definitely in order.
The laboratory (like most Indian government institutions) had an antiquated IT department. They even had a fancy name for it: "Computer Facility Center". We couldnt meet with the Head and instead two subordinate "Scientists" met with us.
I basically asked to be shown around the colony where coverage was desired. One of the gentlemen accompanied us to the Residential colony which was across the road from the lab. On seeing the largest building there (about 12 floors), I went up to the roof of this building to get a Bird's Eye view of the entire campus. What I saw wasnt very encouraging. The building was at one corner of the campus and there was thick tree cover all over. I quickly realized that there was no way that anyone could provide coverage to the entire area with just one "base station". We then went back to the IT department for discussions. I explained to the two people that they must release an addendum to the tender notification doing away with the requirement for a single base station. The explanation given by them for this totally blew me away! They said that they didnt want to be bothered with the maintenance of the Wi-Fi network and hence if a single base station were used, only one point would be required for maintaining the equipment.
This even after another requirement in the tender that the prospective bidder had to provide support services for 3 years!
I tried explaining to them the fallacy of the logic. Moreover, I tried to tell him that there was no technology that could provide access to laptops and PCs in the colony with just one base station mounted on one building at one corner of the area.
They just refused to listen to reason! They said that it was too late to change the tender and it would only involve additional paperwork and too much trouble and other such blah blah. They had not even heard of Mesh networking. They kept insisting that there were some experts who had assured them that they were in possession of such equipment which could fulfill this requirement.
After all this, I am left with the thought that woe be to the poor guy who does win the bid. How would he go about providing access?

All of the above just goes to say that the people/end users who have the grave responsibility of ensuring that the organisation gets the best solution based on sound technological inputs choose to behave immaturely. I really wish people would take the trouble of reading up on technologies instead of designing it for the system integrator! What they dont seem to understand is that every Wi-Fi vendor has his own architecture/philosophy of designing a wireless network. By specifying a particular approach, they have effectively ensured that only a couple of vendors can qualify. The least that could have been done was to have appoint a consulting organisation which would have helped the Laboratory make a technologically sound RFP which can be realistically delivered by the industry.

I'm off to hunt for a solution that can do all that they're asking for at the lowest cost!!

Freakquency: Meraki Wireless Repeater Makes Extending WiFi Easy!

Freakquency: Meraki Wireless Repeater Makes Extending WiFi Easy!

Meghalaya goes for Wi-Fi hotspots

The beautiful state of Meghalaya in India's North-east has announced plans to set up Free Wi-Fi hotspots across Shillong, the capital city.
Mr Robert Garnett Lyngdoh, the IT minister of Meghalaya says that Meghalaya will be the first state in India to offer free Wi-Fi to tourists and locals for non-commercial use.
Shillong is a tourist paradise and is more westernised than most other Indian cities. This step is one of the many initiatives in India towards promoting the use of Wi-Fi to bridge the Digital Divide.

Plan afoot to make entire Delhi Wi-Fi

The Delhi edition of the "Times of India" reported yesterday that taking a cue from the other cities like Bangalore (now Bengaluru) and Pune which are already rolling out Pilot Wi-Fi networks,
The city government's information technology department is exploring options to ensure Delhiites have wireless net access on laptops

A Delhi Government official is also quoted in the article as follows

A senior IT department official said, "We are looking at a model that integrates all the existing technologies like GPRS, Wi-Fi and broadband. We are also looking at WiMax, which is the latest in the field. The final decision will be taken on the basis of the economics involved. But right now, our focus in on providing high-speed internet connectivity to all in an unwired way. This will come at a cost. But once the government enters the picture, the cost of internet access for an individual will come down drastically."

This is a very welcome step forward for a city starved of high speed wireless broadband access!! However, there seems to be a tendency amongst the so-called telecomunications experts in the Government to look down upon Wi-Fi and at the same time be in awe of WiMax! I attended a meeting recently in which a very senior telecommunications officer in the Government innocently asked of the rest of us:

" Is the Wi-Fi technology standardized like WiMax? Does it have a forum like the WiMax forum?"

Like the old song "I didnt know whether to stand there or run!!"
There are also many factual irregularities in the article, which can be attributed to the reporter's lack of research or knowledge or both!
For example, she creates a major blooper in this paragraph which describes Wi-Fi:

It is a short-range system covering many hundreds of metres. It uses a licensed bandwidth to provide access to a network — typically used by the end-user to access their own network, which may or may not be connected to the net.

Whatever the above paragraph means, it conveys a very wrong message to the community at large. This is how I posted a reply on the website (though it has a very bleak chance of getting posted):

"Dear Abantika,
You are wrong about Wi-Fi using licensed bandwidth. It doesnt. In fact due to the pioneering efforts of people in India such as Dr Arun Mehta, both the 2.4GHz and the 5.8 Ghz spectrum on which the Wi-Fi networks can operate (802.11b/g and 802.11a resp) have been delicensed for both indoor and outdoor use by the Government. This is to enable the common man to setup and use the wi-fi spectrum. Articles like yours only serve the interests of the incumbent telcos who are pushing the WiMax/3G agenda while being fully aware that all of what these not-yet-proven technologies can do is already in production use in many countries with Wi-Fi."

Largest WiFi Network in the World will be in West Bengal, India

Move over Philadelphia and San Francisco; the worlds largest Wi-Fi network is being built right here in India.
It has been reported in Biztech India (among other media) that "smartBridges-SREI To Set Up Wi-Fi Network In WB, India". The article goes on to state that:

smartBridges and SREI have announced an alliance to provide low-cost technology enabled Common Service Centres (CSCs) in West Bengal, India. smartBridges will provide the wireless infrastructure to set up 4937 CSCs in 14 districts of West Bengal while SREI will manage these centres and develop a self-sustaining business model.

This is bigger than muni-wireless; this is state-wide wireless! What is more interesting is that the article further goes on to explain how the network will be used:

These CSCs will serve as a revenue tool for village entrepreneurs as well as several self help groups. While providing additional employment, services like VoIP, eEducation, eMedicine and other technology based solutions will also be implemented to improve the quality of life of the rural population.

This is a classic example of how Wireless technologies can and are being used to bridge the so-called "Digital Divide". It has always been emphasized that Wi-Fi is not just about providing Internet connectivity which is a by itself a natural by-product. With Wi-Fi so much more can be achieved. It is common knowledge that the incumbent telcos including the state owned ones have miserably failed in their obligations to provide connectivity in the rural areas. Instead, they are comfortable giving a percentage of their revenues to a fund known as the USO (Universal Services Obligation) fund. This is become a joke because the fund has now grown to a few billion dollars which is what could have been used to provide the connectivity in the first place. Hence these initiatives are part of the Indian Governments attempts at spending the billions that have accumulated over a period. The West Bengal project will slowly be replicated across this vast country. Though we will not have a massive Wi-Fi cloud over any state or even a district (The connectivity model in these cases is mostly point-to-multipoint) which is fine, since we dont expect every rural Indian to be toting a laptop or other computing device. What is more important is that with back-haul reaching the CSC at every village, the village level entrepreneur can set up his own profit-earning hotspot with business models like the "Tomizone" model.

There are other parties which are experimenting with wireless technologies like 700 Mhz Wireless DOCSIS (equipment by Axcera/VCOM), WiMax and so on.
India is the right place to be if one is in the wireless business!