[Commotion-discuss] Picostation mesh with APs

Josh Harle josh.harle at gmail.com
Wed Mar 4 08:20:38 EST 2015


Interesting suggestion that it might be CPU usage causing the problem, and
also the possibility that it will "settle down" after a bit of time.  I'll
have to test leaving one set up for maybe half an hour and see where it
ends up.  The picostation M2HPs use "Atheros MIPS 24KC, 400 MHz" chips.
Will have to have a look at CPU usage.


Kind Regards,

Dr Josh Harle
____________________
http://joshharle.com
http://tacticalspace.org
ph: +61 (0)491 155 985

On 5 March 2015 at 00:05, Adam Steele <adamrobertsteele at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've had this same problem.
>
> SSH in and check CPU load with top. I've seen olsrd choke the CPU with >3
> mesh nodes and if more than one had APs available my ETX would instantly go
> from 1 to >4. Sometimes it would settle down after 15 minutes (maybe more).
> My solution was getting faster/better Routerboards (300MHz vs 680MHz CPU).
>
> Adam
> On Mar 4, 2015 7:06 AM, "Josh Harle" <josh.harle at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Okay, I've made peace with the fact I'll need to get more Picostations.
>> I've tested just connecting the data connections between a Commotion
>> wireless node and a stock ubiquiti firmware Pico, and they worked okay,
>> with the right bridging configuration for the AP.  I've added the AP to the
>> static DHCP list for the mesh node, so I can access its configuration
>> without problems.
>>
>>
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Dr Josh Harle
>> ____________________
>> http://joshharle.com
>> http://tacticalspace.org
>> ph: +61 (0)491 155 985
>>
>> On 4 March 2015 at 01:25, Ryan Gerety <gerety at opentechinstitute.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> We experienced the same issue while setting up a 10 node network
>>> recently. We turned off the access points on all the rooftop/mesh nodes,
>>> and connected a cheap access point router (running standard firmware).  The
>>> Commotion node’s LAN port is plugged into the WAN port of the Access Point.
>>> In many cases this is best anyways -- since you either want good internal
>>> coverage (dragging an ethernet cable inside) or you want to provide an
>>> access point for many people outside (so you might want multiple access
>>> points). Our wireless engineer is currently writing up documentation to
>>> recommend that people dont use a router as both an access point and mesh.
>>>
>>> I agree with Adam that this is just an unfortunate limitation of
>>> wireless.
>>>
>>> Another option is a dual radio is something like this:
>>> https://commotionwireless.net/blog/2014/11/05/do-it-yourself-antennas-for-community-networks/
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Ryan
>>>
>>>
>>> _____________________________________
>>> Senior Field Analyst, Open Technology Institute
>>> New America Foundation
>>> 1899 L St., N.W., Suite 400
>>> Washington, DC 20036
>>> +1 202 492 8841 (c)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 3, 2015, at 9:02 AM, Josh Harle wrote:
>>>
>>> > Hi All,
>>> >
>>> > I've been installing 20 picostation M2HPs in a town to try to set up a
>>> mesh network, partially based on the "Building Pop-up Mesh Networks"
>>> article.
>>> >
>>> > I've found that when I have a handful of mesh nodes, if more than just
>>> one of them has an access point interface enabled, the ETX goes from about
>>> 1 to somewhere between 5 and 7!
>>> >
>>> > I've been talking to Adam Longwill about this, who has found similar
>>> behaviour.  I don't understand how to mitigate this.  Isn't it expected
>>> behaviour to have all nodes as APs too?  How do I get area coverage with
>>> WiFi client access?
>>> >
>>> > It seems to impact performance so much to have more than one AP turned
>>> on in the network that the only thing I can think of is to have one
>>> Picostation for mesh, connected to one souly for AP on another channel.
>>> >
>>> > I would be hugely greatful for advice on this: I'm in a remote Aussie
>>> town for just a couple of days trying to troubleshoot this.
>>> >
>>> > Kind Regards,
>>> >
>>> > Dr Josh Harle
>>> > ____________________
>>> > http://joshharle.com
>>> > http://tacticalspace.org
>>> > ph: +61 (0)491 155 985
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Commotion-discuss mailing list
>>> > Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>> > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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