MESHdesk -> development stage2

Where we are now

The initial tests with MESHdesk showed a product with huge potential.
As a prove of concept we created five entry points (VAPs) connected over the Batman-adv mesh to five captive portals each with their own login page and realms assigned to the captive portal.

We now have the building blocks available to create mesh networks for many scenarios.

What next

A quick list of things to tackle next:

• LED reporting on the state of the MESH

  • Again using our Morse code there will be a timeout of the initial signaling (did the mesh got its settings from the server or is it using a previous config). After the timeout the LED will flash a digital number to indicate the direct neighbors visible on the mesh.
  • If the LED turns off it means there were no direct neighbors visible.
  • If the LED flashes a digital zero it means there are more than nine direct neighbors visible.
  • This LED flashing will enable any person to make use of an outward indication to show if a new mesh node was detected and if it is now part of the current mesh.
  • This LED flashing can also indicate if there are problems on the mesh where a node is not detected.

• Figure out how Alfred works

  • Use Alfred to distribute the default IPv4 Gateway. (This gateway is required for WPA2 Enterprise to direct RADIUS traffic to the external RADIUS server through the mesh)
  • Use Alfred to distribute the batman-adv hosts info.
  • Use Alfred to allow the MESH to reconfigure itself. This will allow you to unplug the LAN cable from one node into another while all the mesh nodes are still powered on. The mesh should then be able to reconfigure itself.
  • Use Alfred to announce the change of a mesh config setting on the back-end. We will use heartbeats from each node to contact the configuration server. If a node sent it's heartbeat through and the back-end was updated prior to the heartbeat going through; the back end will indicate it in the reply. Then the whole mesh should re-fetch their settings in a orderly way in order for it to reconfigure itself based on the latest configuration.

• Heartbeat system for the mesh

  • Create a heartbeat system for the mesh that will periodically send information about the mesh through to the controller.

Estimated time to complete

Before 31 March 2014