Amherst Community Wireless
Currently we are working to build a wide-are wireless testbed covering the Town of Amherst. We are working directly with the town to eventually create a 17 square mile wireless mesh network to provide service to town services and to public mobile users. Overall, our goal for the project is to install approximately 200 outdoor access points (and in more vehicles than the 40 buses already operating).
The mesh nodes are up!
Mesh Network
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The first access points (approximately 10-15) are coming online in the Spring of 2007. The first phase is funded by $85k from DARPA and $15k from the NSF, which are portions of our research grants.
A PDF document is available that explains the benefits to the town, the public, and to our research on Disruption Tolerant Networking.
This project has been covered in the press in several articles. Unfortunately, the articles tend to not profile our students! Please check out our list of students who have worked on the project.
Newspaper Articles:
- - (11/16/06) Communicating even when the network's down --- Researchers seek disruption-tolerant nets (John Cox, Network World)
- - (6/20/06) Clicks heard 'round a town - Amherst's goal: wireless downtown (Kristin Palpini and Rachael Hanley, Hampshire Daily Gazette)
- - (6/20/06) Profs tap bus runs to create moving wireless networks (Rachael Hanley, Hampshire Daily Gazette)
- - (6/17/06) Our Unwired World - More and more, Valley Internet users get the connection - without fees or wires (Kristin Palpini and Rachael Hanley, Hampshire Daily Gazette)
- - (5/10/06) Students & Turtles Mesh (Richard Martin, Unstrung.com)
- - (4/15/06) UMass profs reduce wireless Internet plan (Mary Carey, Hampshire Daily Gazette)
- - (3/14/06) Amherst OKs wireless plan - UMass profs will seek grants to create free Internet access (Mary Carey, Hampshire Daily Gazette)
- - (3/9/06) Free wireless for Amherst? - UMass profs seek OK; board notes defense ties (Mary Carey, Hampshire Daily Gazette)
Radio Stories:
- - (3/13/06) Amherst, MA May Approve Wireless Internet Proposal (Dan Bobkoff, WAMC radio)