[CUWiN-Dev] updated roadmap with notes

[Brandon Bowersox]

Here is an updated roadmap draft based on emails, discussion with  
Dave, Ross, Sascha, and others.  This gives some idea of where we  
plan to go with version numbers and features in the coming months.   
There is also a large list of research ideas and features that are  
not scheduled for a specific list but may happen any time depending  
on people and technology.  Ideas and comments are welcome.  -Brandon

____CUWiN ROADMAP_______________________________

0.7.0 bug fixes in hsls; multi-architecture build - August 2006
0.8.0 improved web interface/nodeconfig for multi-radio - September 2006
0.9.0 meraki mini support (pending availability)
1.0.0 bandwidth shaping; discover and select gateways (pending SoC  
project)


____CUWiN 1.0 REQUIRED FEATURES_________________

- ROBUST AND DE-BUGGED
     fix bugs such as internet gateway default route problem

- NODECONFIG / TURNKEY
     multi-radio setup so nodes can provide access points


____CUWiN 1.1+ FEATURES__________________________

- Discover and select gateways [Michael Earnhart SoC project 2006;  
target for 1.0.0]
     When there are 2 gateways and one is crowded or slow, pick the  
other. End users will understand and judge CUWiN based on getting  
easy fast Internet access. Is this called "gateway-selection protocol"?

- Name Service
     Communication and content-sharing among community participants.   
The "ad-hoc name service" is 80% complete. Specs are at http:// 
svn.curireless.net/svn/cuw/trunk/doc/local/ name-service*. Dave has  
code for the reflection aspect. We need to do the nodeconfig part.  
Need to debug name service bridge. We can also add ability to have a  
DNS name on the internet and advertise servers. Name service is overdue.

- WifiDog
     Captive portal and authentication.  When nodes provide access  
points, we want to allow the node administrator to require login from  
a captive web page before they get network access. Registration might  
just require a MAC address or email.
     We would operate a back-end wifidog server; Dan Merideth is  
setting this up. Each node would be a client. Bryan, Chase or Bill  
Comisky could help import and Dave has instructions: http:// 
svn.cuwireless.net:8080/svn/cuw/trunk/doc/local/3rd-party-src.d/ 
general-import-insns.



____COMING FEATURES NOT SCHEDULED FOR A SPECIFIC RELEASE____

- ETT: Another mesh routing metric for experimentation; extract from  
kernel and inject into hslsd.

- HSLSD "feature-complete": adapts more quickly to changing networks,  
improve bootstrap, handle merges, handle bidirectional links  
according to BBN TR 1301. Add linkstate locking and decision/hello/ 
lsu threads, so real-time performance for flooding/hello protocal  
improves.

- Virtual AP: NetBSD team will be porting this from FreeBSD, we hope.  
This will allow a node with one radio to be both a backhaul and  
access point.



____COMING PLATFORM/DRIVER SUPPORT NOT SCHEDULED FOR A SPECIFIC  
RELEASE____

- Linux Port: CUWiN is tightly integrated to BSD so a Linux port will  
not be trivial, and will require a significant contribution to  
maintain over time. For these reasons Dave feels a Linux port is a  
low priority.  Jennifer Hou and other supporters desire a Linux port,  
however, and it may grow the coder and user base. If someone is  
willing to perform the port and maintain it, Dave is ready to accept  
this contribution. ETX and HSLS are already ported to Linux. Note:  
Linux cross-build already exists and is used by CNT and others.

- There is a large list of cards that need drivers and consumer-grade  
devices we want to support. Meraki Mini is the important one that we  
hope to provide by 1.0.0.



____RESEARCH IDEAS - NOT DESIGNED OR SCHEDULED FOR ANY RELEASE____

- support nodes sleeping for power savings, expand HSLS by adding  
sleeping logic based on WSN/sensor techniques [offer by Ashish in  
July 2006]

- IPv4/IPv6 NAT Traversal: Teredo would allow IPv6 services in the  
mesh to be available at IPv4 addresses from the Internet. Tunnels,  
such as OpenSSH, may be needed for end-users to make services  
available.  Alternately, assign each computer a global IP address?

- Channel Agility: Research ability to coordinate channel changes or  
operate on multiple channels.  Dave feels this is a significant  
amount of work. This will improve speed and efficiency.

- Remove Quagga to compress CUWiN size.  Currently we are only using  
Quagga for it's ability to enter routes into the kernel routing table.

- VoIP: R&D is needed to reduce latency. Also test video.

- Bandwidth shaping

- QoS

- Collect and Publicize Node Data: needed by administrators.

- Scalability to clouds of more than 50 nodes.

- Configuration information store.

- VizRoute: improve, switch from GD to another library, release for  
net admins

- Low Priority Research: OPN / MS Research's MultiNet.  Setting  
appropriate carrier-sense thresholds.  Transmit power control; self- 
interference mitigation such as Least Interference Routing.   
Multicast.  Act on interface events (up/down/add/delete) and media  
events (active/no-carrier). Redistribute routes from other protocols  
to hsls.

- Compress CUWiN to 8MB: to move to smaller, cheaper devices.

- Testing Harness Platform: A way to test cuwin routing, hsls, to  
identify bugs and performance bottlenecks in a controlled environment.

- 802.11 link adaptation: allow nodes to find best link to gateway  
based on packet loss and return statistics. Also need 802.11 link  
layer instrumentation.