Introduction
Most Network Area Neighborhood (NAN) fieldings suffer from the same problem. Generating enough density of Wireless Access Points (WAPs) in the field to have a truly pervasive network is made difficult by a couple of disabling technologies, notably the WAP's connection to the wired world. This is the last-mile problem exacerbated by the steep downgrade in bandwidth that you get when you connect to a typical backbone uplink point. Many NAN-like fieldings, like Boingo's HSIAB, are based upon the premise that WAP owners can (or will) provide either free or paid ingress to their wired services. Even if they will, you are throttling your communications from a medium that starts at 2Mbps (symmetric) to a medium that is quite likely well below that for upstream speeds. Add to this the general distrust of grassroots Internet Access points, and you have a topology that will not get many subscribers.
Enter WiFiDoNet
To remove reliance upon uplink at each WAP connection, a WFN WAP will
aggregate multiple lower bandwidth streams into a single larger pipe. Typically
this will be a WAP that has an omnidirectional
antenna for
Design criteria
The archetype WFN WAP is a dual-band WAP, with an 802.11b/g (2.4 Ghz) antennas.
The aggregation point
The place your local WFN finally links to the wired world is typically a traditional ISP with an antenna on the roof. Ideally, the ISP will have a considerable amount of bandwidth at it's disposal, because it will likely be fielding 54Mbps bursts and bandwidth throttled streams from the WFN.
Wifidonet is currently being tested with a terrestrial windfarm and long-range antennas. A prototype that is hardened against a high amplitude pulse (white noise over a short duration) is also being tested.
View DHS Presentation at The Wireless Forum