setting up a mesh network node

QRPSpecialUsing a wireless digital network may not seem like traditional QRP,but transmitting with low power is at the core of how these networksoperate. Here 's a basic guide to setting up your own.

Setting Up a Mesh Network NodeBY J. GORDON BEATTIE, JR.,' W2TTT

YOU may have read about "meshnodes" or "mesh networks" andwondered how these amateurradio nodes get configured to producea functional network. Amateur radiomesh nodes based on the AustinBroadband-Hamnet (HSMM -MESH)Group's wonderful software take careof the identification requirements whilealso creating functional networks thatcan be used for both routine and emer-gency communlcations." With this soft-ware, readily available Linksys WRT-54G/GS/GL routers (photo A) can betransformed into mesh network nodesthat provide fast and robust selt-orga-nizing networks through which we canpass text, data files , video, and evenvoice traffic.

There is an inherent simplicity to theLinksys implementation that is quiteattractive to the new user of this tech-nology and it is strongly recommendedas an entry-level system. In this article,we will be discussing the setup and con-figuration of the Linksys-based HSMM-MESH/Broadband-Hamnet nodes.

Getting StartedYou will need to obtain a Linksys router,and that requires some care to get amodel and version that are compatiblewith the mesh software . The compati-ble models use the Linux operating sys-tem. You can find the model and ver-sion information on the bottom of the

router in the upper left corner of the labelright under the Linksys logo as shownin photo B. See Table I for a listing ofcompatible models and required soft-ware. If you find a router on the Internet,it s likely to be pre-loaded with an after-market software build called "DD-WRT"which provides some additional con-ventional router functions. If you findsuch a unit at an attractive price, don't

be worried about compatibility as longas the version is listed in Table I. Ofcourse , the best unit is one that has thecorrect version , powers up, and is free,so check garage sales and local thriftstores . For reference , the WRT-54GSversions 1 through 3 are the best,because they provide the most memo-ry for embedded applications to be res-ident on the mesh node.

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Photo A. Three different models of Linksys routers (from top, WRT54GL,WRT54GS and WRT54G) that are ideal for use as nodes in Broadband/Hamnet

(HSMM-MESH) networks .ModelWRT-54WRT-54GSWRT-54GSWRT-54GL

Version/NotesV1-4 (V1 is 5V only)

V 13 Most desirable has large memory capaci tyV4

V1.(}-1.1

Softwa re Versionbbhn-1.0.0-wrt54gbbhn-1.0.0-wrt54gs

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Table I. Mesh network-compatible Linksys WRT-54IWRT54GSIWRT-54GL models.

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Fig. 1. Windows IPCONFIG example. Note the connection information of"local.mesh" in the lower part of the screen.

Once you have your router, plug it inand make sure that it cycles up in a fewseconds. If successful, the "Power" and"WLAN" LEDs will be lit. Next, connectyour computer' s Ethernet port to anyone of the router's LAN ports, labeled1-4, then open up a web browser andenter the IP address to log on to the router's admin-istrative console. If the router is in itsdefault mode and is running Linksyssoftware, then you will need to enternothing in the user name field and"adrnin" in the password field. If you arerepurposing a router with DD-WRT,then you will use the logon of "root" and"adrnin"as yourpassword. One of theseshould let you into the router's admin-istrative console.

TroubleshootingRouter AccessIf you have trouble accessing therouter's logon screen, then you mayneed to get a new IP address from thisrouter. For Windows PCs, go to a sys-tem command prompt- and type"IPCONFIG/RELEASE co-" and then"IPCONFIG/RENEW" (see fig. 1).You should then be able to access therouter and log on. Apple and Linux-based systems have similarcommands.

If you have trouble with the logon andpassword because you either don'tknow them or forgot them, then poweronthe router while holding the reset but-ton down with a pen for about 30 sec-onds. This will clear the whole configu-ration and should restore the router todefault settings.

Obtaining and Loadingthe MESH SoftwareThere are several different files to usewith your Linksys router depending onits model and version. You will find thecorrect file name for your hardware inTable I. Download the needed file fromeither the Broadband-Hamnet web site< http : / / w w w . h s m m - m es h. 0 rg lsoftware-download.html> or from thefile section of the "ComTechGroup"Yahoo Group , whichyou can easily join by simply request-ing access.

Once the file is saved on your com-puter and you have logged into therouter, select the "Administration" sec-tion tab and then select the "Upgrade"button. You will be prompted for a file-name. Browse over to the correct folderand select the file. At NO TIME duringthis phase of the process shoutd youunplug the router from the PC. Once

completed, you will note that the routerreboots and is now an unconfiguredmesh node. Your router will take a bitlonger to boot the mesh software than itdid the default Linksys or other routersoftware. The "Power" LED will begin toflash, then the "DMZ" LED will come on.Once the "DMZ" LED goes off and the"WLAN" LED starts to flash, you havesuccessfully loaded and rebooted yourmesh node! You will see that the head-er of the page has your call sign andidentifier on top, along witha pageof sta-tistical elements. Congratulate yoursett:

Basic ASICMESH Node ConfigurationYou're making progress, but you havemore to do. First,you will probably need

Photo B.The bottom of aLinksys routerwill show you itsmodel numberand versioninformation.

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to repeat the process of releasing theold IP address and obtaining a new oneas you did when initially accessing theconsole. (These addresses are gener-ated by the router itself . See fig. 1.)Once you have the new IP address,then enter ''http://localnode:8080 -ccre-"to see the main mesh node console asshown in fig. 2. Click on the "Setup" but-ton and enter a logon of "root" and"mesh" as your password.

You will then be presented with abasic configuration screen as shown infig. 3. You will need to enter a new valuefor the "Node Name." It should includeyour call sign with an extension thatmakes the node unique with respect toits ID. Some folks use functional exten-sions with serial numbers, while otherput in locations. There are no hard and

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fast rules, but make sure that your callsign is at the beginning. You will alsoneed to enter a new node password intwo places . Make sure that you remem-ber what you entered . You might evenwant to put a label on the bottom of thenode with that password as long as youcan maintain physical security, but inany case, write it down-somewhere!

Finally , it is strongl y recommended thatyou move the node off of channel 1, 6,or 11, as they are the most popular onesin use for normal WiFi operations. Weusually pick channel 3, but your local RFecosystem may drive other choices.(Note: WiFi channels 1-6 are sharedwith the 2.3-GHz amateur band, so anyplanned activities under FCC Part 97

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Fig. 2 . This is the screen you will see after loading the mesh software but beforeconfiguring the node. You now need to do setup.

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Fig. 3. The configuration screen will guide you through the steps needed forcorrect setup.

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Fig. 4. Once you've entered all the necessary information, you'll get a screen thatlooks like this while the router is configuring and rebooting itself.

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Fig. 5. Voila! Your mesh node is configured and ready to start communicating!

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Fig. 6. The mesh network status screen shows you what other nodes areaccessible to you as well as what features, or services , they offer.

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Fig. 8. Example of what you might see from the IP camera once you've selecteda mode on which to view its photos.

Fig. 7. The Foscam IP camera lets the user select different modes based on whichone works best on your browser. The camera is accessed and configured over

the mesh network.

Just Do It!We all have become interested in a topicthat we've read about, gotten really firedup, and then came the practical realityof making it happen. You know the typeof issues that come up.. ."I'm distract-ed," "I don't know how to find or load thenew software," "What happens if I do itwrong?" etc. This article is an attemptto help you conquer those issues, andget on the air! I hope that you found ithelpful and interesting.

Noles1. See Beattie, "HSMM-MESH Net-

working in EmComm Applications," COOctober 2013, p. 26

2. To access the system commandprompt in Windows, click on the "Start" orWindows logo button, then type "CMD" inthe search bar and click on "CMD.EXE"when it comes up.

Is There Anybody Out There?OK, I borrowed the title line from PinkFloyd, but there really is a need to putup more than one node and find out ifthey can communicate with each other.In order to see neighboring nodes,select the "Mesh Status" button. If youhave two configured nodes or have anearby node, you will see somethinglike what's shown in fig. 6.

As you can see, there are two neigh-boring mesh nodes and each has somedefined "Services." You can connect tothese services if they are defined andare using a compatible device. Forexample, W2TIT-LT2 is a Telnet serv-er that allows for keyboard-to-keyboardconnections, while W2TTI-PI01 is aRaspberry Pi computer running anInternet Relay Chat (IRC) server. TheW2TTI-IPCAM01 is an IP camera.Connecting to this Foscam brand cam-era is as easy as clicking on the cam-era link from your web browser and fol-lowing the camera server connectionsequence (fig. 7). Along the way you willbe prompted for a camera logon andpassword, and then you will be provid-ed with a choice of camera servermodes. Try each one with your brows-er to determine which option will giveyou success (fig. 8). ActiveX Mode pro-vides full recording and snapshot capa-bilities which are not shown here as thatplug-in was not installed into theChrome browser that was used for thescreen shots in figs. 7 and 8.

web browser, and you will be present-ed with a screen as shown in fig. 5. Younow have a functional configured meshnode that should be ready to communi-cate. Congratulate yourself again!

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entered, press the "Save Changes" but-ton and the node will save your entriesand reboot. During that reboot periodyou will see a screen as shown in fig. 4.Once it comes up as described previ-ously, you will need to once againensure that the computer gets a new IPaddress. Once that is done, enter''http:// localnode:8080 crs" in your

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rules- which allow more power andantenna flexibility than Part 15 rules-must be conducted on one of thesechannels .)

One interesting thing to note is that iftwo mesh nodes are on different chan-nels, they will search out other nodeson other channels, but at a cost innetwork performance. Once it is all


setting up a mesh network node

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