At our July members meeting we where very privileged to have Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen as our guest speaker to talk to us about his exciting new project using off-the-shelf smart phones that operate on an open source platform called Android and yes it uses wireless too.

This mobile platform has allowed for the integration of Asterisk and wireless mesh systems used in the Village Telco Project with Paul's own software, DNA (‘Distributed Numbering Architecture’) to create the Batphone an exciting, revolutionary new concept that will change the way we view communications.

Network administration have updating the 'line of sight' data for all nodes in the Air-Stream node database to add a feature which allows you to flag a node as 'needing LOS update'. The processing will then be done periodically in the background, to keep this data up-to-date!

You can view the line of sight plot for a node by clicking it and selecting 'Show LOS Coverage' from the popup window. Please note that this plot uses digital elevation data and thus only accounts for land mass, not trees, buildings, or other obstructions.

Air-Stream Woolsheds is now connected to Air-Stream Gulfview Heights, which makes it currently the longest link in the Air-Stream network at 42km.

Read more at What Smoke?

The Air-Stream Wireless Network Planning Team reported at our last meeting that they are currently testing the feasibility of using 802.11n on 5.8Ghz to increase through put on back haul links in the network. As with all things the best way to learn is by doing and this hands-on experience will be invaluable to the ongoing viability of the network into the future. Current testing is demonstrating exceptional performance over distances with links of 10kms showing it maybe possible to achieve synchronous data-rates of 90Mbps.

• MikroTik Router OS
• Routerboard RB433 and RB800
• Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. Rocket Dishes
• Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. Rocket M

PassMark Software are based in Sydney and develop a range of monitoring software including WirelessMon, the software tool that lets you monitor the status of Wireless Wi-Fi adapters and gather information about nearby access points or hotspots in real time. WirelessMon provides comprehensive graphing of signal level, real time IP and 802.11 Wi-Fi statistics.

Our thanks go Thirty4 Interactive who through their generosity and support of Air-Stream Wireless have donated a server and are providing an opportunity for hosting and experimental peering.

Thirty4 Interactive is an exciting new business model with a unique approach to solving business needs through a full range of IT business services including reliable collocation, website design and online marketing systems.