Patras wireless metropolitan network
Encyclopedia
Patras Wireless Metropolitan Network (PWMN) is a free (as air), open
wifi
network community of individuals who all share the same hobby; building and managing wireless networks
. Currently PWMN is the dominant wireless network community in Patras
, Greece
. It has about 100 active members (Mar 2010) who are the individual node owners of this metropolitan area network
and it is connected through wireless links with over 8 Greek provinces (Achaia, Ileia, Messenia
, Arcadia
, Etoloakarnania, Fokida, Corinthia
, Ionian Islands
) with wireless links (on the PMWN side) of up to 105km . It came into existence after the merging of the two previous dominant wireless networks in Patras
, namely Patras Wireless Network
and SPN in early 2007. It is a non-profit organization which aims to explore network technologies (basically wireless 802.11) and new computer associated technologies in general.
of all the major Greek cities together, thus forming one of the largest (at least area-wise)wifi
networks ever. Part of this vision become a reality recently, when the final links between PMWN and MSWN (Messinia Wireless Network) in Messenia
were established. The whole network now spans over more than 200km from side to side and is estimated to serve more than 250 people - (all with wireless links, all open, all free)
(PWN). The second part of PWMN comes from a totally independent wireless community network, SPN which was being deployed since 2004 in parallel with PWN. In 2006 SPN boasted a faster backbone than PWN, more enthusiastic active members, and a more open/distributed management than the older, more conservative and centrally-managed PWN. In early 2007, most PWN and SPN members decided to overcome their differences and form a totally new network community with members from both networks, following the distributed management system used by SPN, which proved to work better in the community context. Since then PWMN has grown and is now better than ever.
and its suburbs. Patras' shape and geophysical characteristics (mainly hills) has made it quite difficult to establish wireless links around the whole city. This is because the links require Line of sight
. Despite the difficulties, PMWN boasts double or triple-way backbones which together with the dynamic routing protocol used (OSPF), makes the whole network very robust and very fast. Recently, following the shared vision, the network has started to cover a much wider area, aiming at linking all of mainland Greece. This is not a trivial task since most cities are separated by sea, big mountains and large distances. So far, PWMN has managed to establish long distance links up to:
On late 2009, the major wireless communities of western Greece, set-up their last remaining long distance links which would link them together. Since then PWMN has become part of the broader wireless community network that covers a large part of western Greece (which we tend to refer to as Western Greece Wireless Network).
used in PWMN is off-the-shelf 802.11a, 802.11b Wireless devices which operate in 5.4 GHz and 2.4 GHz license-free ISM bands
. The actual Computer Hardware used for the Wireless routers can vary from simple Wireless access point
to small Single-board computer
(SBCs) up to conventional PCs.
The Routing
protocol currently used (March 2010) is OSPF, a dynamic routing protocol using a distance vector algorithm. Since the actual network deployment gets more and more meshed with multiple paths from one node to another, the network could benefit by a smarter dynamic routing protocol such as OLSR which is already in use in parts of Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network
.
PWMN relies mainly on open source software, and Linux
is used to support many PMWN services.
The services used throughout PWMN cover a wide range. One of the main services is the PWMN forum
which is the main place for open discussions concerning the network. The PWMN wiki
project aims at creating a big knowledge base for all the challenging aspects of wireless networking. As such it contains various Guides, Tutorials, Member's own designs and even networking equipment reviews. PWMN relies heavily on the WiND project
to create a map of the wireless nodes and links using actual terrain info. PWMN users prefer to use IRC for their instant messaging needs; the IRC servers throughout the network are connected to a broader network of IRC servers (HWN:Hellenic Wireless Network) which serve all of the Greek Wireless Communities. There are plenty more services like Game Server
, File sharing
, VOIP, VPN, DNS
, Network monitoring
and plenty others.
Since late 2010, most of the public Access Points of PWMN, although independently managed, have a common centrally managed Hotspot
website engine which introduces the Wireless Community to the guest clients in a uniform way across the community. This Hotspot
engine gives the clients access to useful community services (that is IRC, Discussion Forum, WiND project's
Map of Network nodes etc.) so that all clients can easily get to know more about the network and get in touch with the community members. The statistics gathered so far, show that there are about 1000 guest clients per month accessing Hotspot website.
Open
- Philosophy :* Openness, term being used to define the basis of how various groups and organizations operate- Mathematics :* Open problem, a well-defined problem with no known solution in science and mathematics...
wifi
WIFI
WIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
network community of individuals who all share the same hobby; building and managing wireless networks
Wireless network
Wireless network refers to any type of computer network that is not connected by cables of any kind. It is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and enterprise installations avoid the costly process of introducing cables into a building, or as a connection between various equipment...
. Currently PWMN is the dominant wireless network community in Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. It has about 100 active members (Mar 2010) who are the individual node owners of this metropolitan area network
Metropolitan area network
A metropolitan area network is a computer network that usually spans a city or a large campus. A MAN usually interconnects a number of local area networks using a high-capacity backbone technology, such as fiber-optical links, and provides up-link services to wide area networks and the...
and it is connected through wireless links with over 8 Greek provinces (Achaia, Ileia, Messenia
Messenia
Messenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011...
, Arcadia
Arcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...
, Etoloakarnania, Fokida, Corinthia
Corinthia
Corinthia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated around the city of Corinth, in the north-eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula.-Geography:...
, Ionian Islands
Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
) with wireless links (on the PMWN side) of up to 105km . It came into existence after the merging of the two previous dominant wireless networks in Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, namely Patras Wireless Network
Patras Wireless Network
Patras Wireless Network is, historically, the first city-wide, wireless community network in Greece. It is run and maintained by the users of the network...
and SPN in early 2007. It is a non-profit organization which aims to explore network technologies (basically wireless 802.11) and new computer associated technologies in general.
The Plan
A shared vision of most PWMN members is what they call the Free Internet which is a global computer network where its users are at the same time the ISPs, contribute to its development (hardware/software) and is free for everyone to access. The concept is similar to the one followed in the free source software context. The first steps towards this vision is to connect all the already well-established wireless community networksWireless community network
Wireless community networks or wireless community projects are the organizations that attempt to take a grassroots approach to providing a viable alternative to municipal wireless networks for consumers....
of all the major Greek cities together, thus forming one of the largest (at least area-wise)wifi
WIFI
WIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
networks ever. Part of this vision become a reality recently, when the final links between PMWN and MSWN (Messinia Wireless Network) in Messenia
Messenia
Messenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011...
were established. The whole network now spans over more than 200km from side to side and is estimated to serve more than 250 people - (all with wireless links, all open, all free)
Project history
PWMN is relatively new (early 2007) but its roots trace back to 2001 when the first wireless network community in Greece was formed: Patras Wireless NetworkPatras Wireless Network
Patras Wireless Network is, historically, the first city-wide, wireless community network in Greece. It is run and maintained by the users of the network...
(PWN). The second part of PWMN comes from a totally independent wireless community network, SPN which was being deployed since 2004 in parallel with PWN. In 2006 SPN boasted a faster backbone than PWN, more enthusiastic active members, and a more open/distributed management than the older, more conservative and centrally-managed PWN. In early 2007, most PWN and SPN members decided to overcome their differences and form a totally new network community with members from both networks, following the distributed management system used by SPN, which proved to work better in the community context. Since then PWMN has grown and is now better than ever.
Location
PWMN is, in the most part, based in the city of PatrasPatras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
and its suburbs. Patras' shape and geophysical characteristics (mainly hills) has made it quite difficult to establish wireless links around the whole city. This is because the links require Line of sight
Line-of-sight propagation
Line-of-sight propagation refers to electro-magnetic radiation or acoustic wave propagation. Electromagnetic transmission includes light emissions traveling in a straight line...
. Despite the difficulties, PMWN boasts double or triple-way backbones which together with the dynamic routing protocol used (OSPF), makes the whole network very robust and very fast. Recently, following the shared vision, the network has started to cover a much wider area, aiming at linking all of mainland Greece. This is not a trivial task since most cities are separated by sea, big mountains and large distances. So far, PWMN has managed to establish long distance links up to:
- KefaloniaKefaloniaThe island of Cephalonia, also known as Kefalonia, Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia , is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece, with an area of . It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit...
in Ionian IslandsIonian IslandsThe Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
(straight 105km link from Aroe in Patras) which links PWMN with the Wireless Network of KefaloniaKefaloniaThe island of Cephalonia, also known as Kefalonia, Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia , is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece, with an area of . It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit...
. - KylliniKylliniThere are several places on the Peloponnesus peninsula in Greece named Kyllíni :* Mount Kyllini , the mythological birthplace of Hermes ....
in Ileia (straight 65km link from Aroe in Patras) which links PWMN with Wireless Amateur Network of AmaliadaWireless Amateur Network of AmaliadaThe Wireless Amateur Network of Amaliada aka WANA, is a 5.4 Ghz wireless network located in the City of Amaliada. The network links many users from several areas of the town and suburbs as it offers broadband services always by encountering the settings for safe telecommunications as they are...
(WANA) in Amalias and further on with MSWN (Messinia Wireless Network) in MesseniaMesseniaMessenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011...
. - Nafpaktos in Etoloakarnania (straight 20km from Patras)
- Skaloma in Fokida (20km link through KamaresKamaresKamares may refer to the following places:in Greece:*Kamares, Achaea, a town in the northern part of Achaea*Kamares, Crete, a village in the southern part of the Heraklion peripheral unit in southern Crete...
which is linked to both Nafpaktos and Trikorfo through 20km and 17km links respectively) - Trikorfo in Fokida (22km link from Patras which is also linked to KamaresKamaresKamares may refer to the following places:in Greece:*Kamares, Achaea, a town in the northern part of Achaea*Kamares, Crete, a village in the southern part of the Heraklion peripheral unit in southern Crete...
(17km), and Ligia in Derveni, CorinthiaDerveni, CorinthiaDerveni is a coastal town in prefecture of Corinthia in the Peloponnesus, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Evrostini. It is linked by the old, mostly coastal, national road and a new, thought secondary, highway to mainland Greece and the Western Peloponnese.Its population stands at 1514...
(59km)). - Ligia in Derveni, CorinthiaDerveni, CorinthiaDerveni is a coastal town in prefecture of Corinthia in the Peloponnesus, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Evrostini. It is linked by the old, mostly coastal, national road and a new, thought secondary, highway to mainland Greece and the Western Peloponnese.Its population stands at 1514...
(62km link to Nafpaktos) - 42km Link to Arakynthos a mountain in Etoloakarnania (the actual name of the place is ellinika) which is linked to WiRAN the Wireless network of AgrinioAgrinioAgrinion is the largest city and municipality of the Aetolia-Acarnania peripheral unit of Greece, with 96,321 inhabitants. It is the economical center of Aetolia-Acarnania, although its capital is the town of Mesolonghi. The settlement dates back to ancient times...
through a 12km link
On late 2009, the major wireless communities of western Greece, set-up their last remaining long distance links which would link them together. Since then PWMN has become part of the broader wireless community network that covers a large part of western Greece (which we tend to refer to as Western Greece Wireless Network).
Design
The hardwareHardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
used in PWMN is off-the-shelf 802.11a, 802.11b Wireless devices which operate in 5.4 GHz and 2.4 GHz license-free ISM bands
ISM band
The industrial, scientific and medical radio bands are radio bands reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than communications....
. The actual Computer Hardware used for the Wireless routers can vary from simple Wireless access point
Wireless access point
In computer networking, a wireless access point is a device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or related standards...
to small Single-board computer
Single-board computer
A single-board computer is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor, memory, input/output and other features required of a functional computer. Unlike a typical personal computer, an SBC may not include slots into which accessory cards may be plugged...
(SBCs) up to conventional PCs.
The Routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
protocol currently used (March 2010) is OSPF, a dynamic routing protocol using a distance vector algorithm. Since the actual network deployment gets more and more meshed with multiple paths from one node to another, the network could benefit by a smarter dynamic routing protocol such as OLSR which is already in use in parts of Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network
Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network
Started in 2002 in Athens Greece, Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network is a grassroots wireless community, taking advantage of new, state of the art wireless technologies, to connect people and services. The network comprises 1120 backbone nodes and more than 2900 client computers connect to it...
.
PWMN relies mainly on open source software, and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
is used to support many PMWN services.
The services used throughout PWMN cover a wide range. One of the main services is the PWMN forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
which is the main place for open discussions concerning the network. The PWMN wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
project aims at creating a big knowledge base for all the challenging aspects of wireless networking. As such it contains various Guides, Tutorials, Member's own designs and even networking equipment reviews. PWMN relies heavily on the WiND project
Wireless Nodes Database
WiND is a Web application targeted at Wireless community networks.It was created as a replacement for for the members of Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network located in Athens, Greece.-License:...
to create a map of the wireless nodes and links using actual terrain info. PWMN users prefer to use IRC for their instant messaging needs; the IRC servers throughout the network are connected to a broader network of IRC servers (HWN:Hellenic Wireless Network) which serve all of the Greek Wireless Communities. There are plenty more services like Game Server
Game server
A game server is a remotely or locally run server used by game clients to play multiplayer video games. Most video games played over the Internet operate via a connection to a game server...
, File sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
, VOIP, VPN, DNS
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
, Network monitoring
Network monitoring
The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages...
and plenty others.
Since late 2010, most of the public Access Points of PWMN, although independently managed, have a common centrally managed Hotspot
Hotspot (Wi-Fi)
A hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider...
website engine which introduces the Wireless Community to the guest clients in a uniform way across the community. This Hotspot
Hotspot (Wi-Fi)
A hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider...
engine gives the clients access to useful community services (that is IRC, Discussion Forum, WiND project's
Wireless Nodes Database
WiND is a Web application targeted at Wireless community networks.It was created as a replacement for for the members of Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network located in Athens, Greece.-License:...
Map of Network nodes etc.) so that all clients can easily get to know more about the network and get in touch with the community members. The statistics gathered so far, show that there are about 1000 guest clients per month accessing Hotspot website.
See also
- Athens Wireless Metropolitan NetworkAthens Wireless Metropolitan NetworkStarted in 2002 in Athens Greece, Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network is a grassroots wireless community, taking advantage of new, state of the art wireless technologies, to connect people and services. The network comprises 1120 backbone nodes and more than 2900 client computers connect to it...
- TWMNTWMNTWMN, short for Thessaloniki's Wireless Metropolitan Network, is a user community in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. The purpose of the community is to promote the usage of wireless networking in the region of Thessaloniki and to create a city-wide wireless network that connects all parts of the...
- WiND - Wireless Nodes Database
- Imathias Wireless Metropolitan Network
- Wireless Amateur Network of AmaliadaWireless Amateur Network of AmaliadaThe Wireless Amateur Network of Amaliada aka WANA, is a 5.4 Ghz wireless network located in the City of Amaliada. The network links many users from several areas of the town and suburbs as it offers broadband services always by encountering the settings for safe telecommunications as they are...