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DAIICT Mesh Network (DAMN) is an attempt to establish an active mesh network at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology. The mesh network will act as a vehicle for free communication inside the campus. It shall also act as a test bed for future wireless networks research at DAIICT.

Idea

An Ad-hoc network consists of nodes communicating with each other without any infrastructure. Nodes themselves serve as routers forwarding information to other nodes in their range.

Wifi enabled devices are on the rise. In about a couple of years from now, almost everyone will have a wifi enabled smart phone OR a tablet while walking around the campus. A couple of software running on your system will allow your system to connect to the network automatically. Once you are connected to the network, you can make free audio / video calls, IM, share files and access the internet also.
It will be almost like a Wireless LAN.

Incremental Progress

DAMN is its infant stages. It is not a fully grown network. There will be fine tuning and sculpting to do. We look forward to your help. We will require active feedback. We have not tried out the software on all operating systems and are working on it. You are encouraged to provide feedback on the website, once it comes up. Till then, feedback can be given in the form of reviews and comments on this sourceforge page.

A lot of features will be added. We will keep on providing with applications. Have a look at the In The Pipeline section.

Behind the Scenes

There are various protocols running behind the scenes which enable you to communicate effectively with other people on the go.

The IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) is a MAC layer protocol that enables your system to another system with the radio antennas. The Routing Protocol (OLSR, B.A.T.M.A.N, etc) build up different routes for the traffic to flow between nodes. More the number of people, more the routes, more robust the network. On top of that, different telephony and networking applications run oblivious of the hocus pocus going on in the lower layers.

IEEE 802.11 is enabled in the wireless drivers in your system. The software we provide you will be the routing protocol and the applications.

All you have to do is switch your WiFi ON and revel in awesomeness!

Use Cases

Assuming the network is UP and running with good amount of coverage.

1. You are in the room. You want to call your friend whether has he gone to the cafe or not. Pick up your phone, make a free video call to your friend.

2. Play AOE. 4v4. The whole clan can sit in one room.

3. You are in the lab. Ordering a packet of singh bhujia from dadu will only take you to open the sms application, type, send. FREE

4. You are a networks guy. Just came up with a new protocol for wireless networks. You have live traces available. You have a live environment available. Code the daemon, ask people to install.

In The Pipeline

As mentioned, DAMN is its formative stages. What we, the DAIICT population work on, will shape the first community wireless network in India.

Currently, we have started out with telephony as the application.
Following are some of the things we are looking at:

1. Telephony - next stage. PBX servers and ease of calling.

2. IM - Applications that will allow FREE texting over DAMN.

3. Monitoring DAMN and allowing improvements - DAMN was tested in a lab scenario with 4-5 nodes. It is yet to be seen how does this scale. Improvements regarding the routing protocol and infrastructure (installing routers) will follow.

4. Wireless Traces and Position Tracking - This will help build a Marauders Map type application and all facilitate collection of wireless traces.

Current Stage

This section will be edited as we make progress

We have completed implementations for DAMN as an adhoc network. We have scripts available which will connect any Windows / Linux computer to DAMN.

TroubleShoot

In case you are facing problems in installation, configuration or use post it in the forums. Also, Sourceforge provides with a mailing list. Please mail at the mailing list and people will reply.

After google, forums, mailing lists you can contact the following people. They will come and help you personally. (Also, catch them if you want some personal information on what/when/why/how of DAMN)

• Naman Muley - naman.g.muley@gmail.com
• Brijesh Patel - brijeshpateln@gmail.com
• Ankit Sharma - ankitspy@gmail.com
• Arun Gupta - arungupta143@gmail.com

NOTE1: Please check the forums and mailing list archives before posting a new query.

NOTE2: Do respect the personal lives of the above members and NOT take them for granted. They are not experts and are in the learning curve. People are expected to have followed the READMEs if any are provided.

Spec Sheet

• Physical/Data Link Layer: IEEE 802.11 b/g (2.4 - 2.485 GHz)
• Routing Protocol: OLSR
• ESSID - "DAMN"
• channel - 6

Proper drivers are assumed to be installed