A New HOPE (2022): Creating a General Purpose Network Through Wireless Mesh
Channel: Channel2600
Date: 08/08/2022

Friday, July 22, 2022: 5:00 pm (DAC 206): This talk will cover the creation of a resilient and redundant network across the region using wireless technology independent of the Internet. A lot of local data can be collected through various radio protocols such as weather and NOAA satellite data, airplane and ship traffic, and time. All of this data can be collected and processed with SDRs and Raspberry Pis. Offline repositories and mirrored sites can be hosted on this network, such as Wikipedia, medical encyclopedias, Project Gutenberg (every book in the public domain), TED, YouTube, Stack Overflow, and many others.

This talk will explore the trials and errors learned in creating this network from the physical to Layer 3 routing, how to build cheap antennas, the hardware used, and how they're solar/battery backed up. The coverage of the network can even be expanded using amateur radio frequencies for those with licenses to send TCP/IP packets over digital radio and plug into existing ham infrastructure including global SMS, phone, and global email with and without an Internet connection. The network infrastructure can be expanded by anyone wanting to join the network and host more resources, expand coverage, content, and serve as communications in an emergency or extended grid-down situation.

Jameson Dungan