The 2019 Decentralized Web Summit Camp will take place at a beautiful piece of coastal land an hour west of San Jose from July 18 to 21.
This area currently has very minimal network infrastructure and Internet connectivity.
Let's use this opportunity to build, test, and use our decentralized systems together,
in a connectivity environment that more closely resembles large parts of the world,
and co-imagine the social processes and local technologies that will help us organize day-to-day,
and make inclusive spaces to learn from each other and build capacity around human-empowering technologies.
If you would like to get involved in creating this meshnet, join our meshnet chat at #dweb-camp-2019-mesh:matrix.org to share your ideas. You may also file Issues and send Pull Requests, but first please check out our FAQ.
This document is the proposal to build a local mesh network with the following goals in mind:
- Reliable local network with 802.11ac speeds
- Access points in key areas for client devices (e.g. phones and laptops) to connect
- Allow Camp participants to extend or run locally-hosted services on the network
- Carry traffic to Internet gateway for client devices to access the Internet with limited bandwidth and reliability
- Document setup and learnings for future events or other groups
| Category | Budget (USD) |
|---|---|
| Meshnet equipment (prototype) | 1500 |
| Meshnet equipment (production) | 5000 |
| Misc. hardware (SBCs, cables) | 1500 |
| Internet connectivity | ? |
| Contractor wages (if necessary) | 500 |
The diagram above is the area map, with preliminary positions of mesh nodes that together form the local mesh network. Each node has a 100 m radius circle around it, representing the region where client devices are expected to form a good connection with the node's access point. There is a larger 150 m radius circle around where devices may be able to connect. The green dotted lines represent point-to-point links between nodes that together form the local mesh network.
Each node is an aggregate of multiple pieces of equipment, which may include:
- Radio for directional link
- Radio for access point
- Network switch, router, and application server
- Power equipment, mounts, and cables
Some nodes will have interfaces that allow other devices to be plugged in to offer locally-hosted services on the network. One or more nodes will also serve as the Internet gateway for this local network.
Each green dotted line represents a directional link formed by a pair of MikroTik SXTsq 5 ac, used in NYC Mesh, supporting link speeds at 800+ Mbps. These devices will run stock firmware. Where possible, we can also link two nodes with a long ethernet cable.
One alternative option is the 60 GHz MikroTik Wireless Wire or MikroTik Wireless Wire Dish, but we will start with the SXTsq 5 ac devices at lower costs.
Omnidirectional access points are what client devices will connect to, we will use a MikroTik OmniTIK 5 PoE ac, used in NYC Mesh, as the standard device to connect 50+ clients at a time and deliver 800+ Mbps aggregate speeds. These devices will run stock firmware.
An alternative device we can use as access point is the MikroTik mANTBox 15s sector, in areas where only one side of the mount point needs service.
The SolidRun ClearFog Pro will be used as gigabit network switch and router. It has 7 gigabit ports, used to connect with the directional and access point radios, Internet gateways, as well as devices offering local services to the network (e.g. Raspberry Pi running a Scuttlebutt Pub Server or GUN peer, or devices running Dat and IPFS to provide the network with distributed storage capacity). In the case that more ports are needed, Internet Archive has Ubiquiti ToughSwitch and other 48-port switches to provide. The ClearFog Pro has a 1.6 GHz ARM processor and 1 GB RAM, so we can run some applications directly on the board that are traditionally unable to run on routers.
We also hope to connect LibreRouter devices to the network. It is a 802.11n device and does not have the same application processing power, but it includes two 5 GHz directional radios and a 2.4 GHz access point, and it is an all-in-one and open-source device perfect for the environment we are working with.
Some areas may not have a source of power. These areas will have to be identified when we survey the site, then we can plan for alternatives. If no high point is available, we may have to install 5-6 m tall poles to mount the wireless equipment. We will also bring large spools of ethernet cables, and tools to make them so everyone can participate in building from basic components.
We will create a prototype setup over April and May to validate the devices we chose, and try running various mesh routing software on them.
| Device | Quantity |
|---|---|
| MikroTik SXTsq 5 ac | 2 |
| MikroTik OmniTIK 5 PoE ac | 1 |
| MikroTik mANTBox 15s | 1 |
| SolidRun ClearFog Pro | 2 |
| LibreRouter | 3 |
| Ubiquiti ToughSwitch | available |
| Raspberry Pi 3B+ | available |
| Orange Pi Zero | available |
We will start with Althea's flavour of Babel (with WireGuard). There are other mesh protocols such as batman-adv and BMX6 that may also be tested. Other more experimental protocols such as cjdns and Yggdrasil may be run in parallel to or in parts of the network.