MeshInPoliceCars

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First off let me address the size of the city... with one AP right in the middle or on any edge of that city running 200 mw radio into 12 db antenna with minimum feed line(less than 50 feet of LMR400.. you could easily have a good signal over the top of the trees where you had line of sight. As to once you have this in place all the practical rules of how far and how many go out the window when you drop the neighborhood meshap to the 40ft and lower heights.  As to putting meshap on utillity poles(light poles) if you figure out a way to do that without becoming a telecomunications company please email me off the board and let me know.  As to the number of nodes required is going to be TOTALLY dependant on exactly how solid of coverage you REALLY want i would guess and its a pretty good guess you would have quite a few places that couldnt get wifi using 11 nodes.. From my experience so far with the RF end of this I would estimate to have the whole city a

total hotspot you would be looking at at least 20+ nodes from the basic description you have gave. The 2000 foot assumption will be way too optimistic i would think But without actually being there and physically looking at the trees buildings and teraine this is all just a good guess at best! My mesh is is built on a 7 node model with all 7 nodes extremely high (150+ feet) ... it is about 25 miles long and at least 10 miles wide.. this is basically the backbone of my wireless system.. from there i am starting to drop in lower meshap to try to cover specific neighborhoods which are in two small cities that are served by 4 of the seven nodes. If i was attempting to plan a mesh like yours i would scale the model i have down to a 2 node model at !50 feet. BTW pine trees are a RF KILLER. i get cooperation(use of towers and water tanks) from the two cities and FD and PD in exchange for my willingness to develop the mesh so they can USE IT lol. You might want to contact Lynn Jones at www.netwi.org he has some mesh stuff in police cars. hope this generalization is at least some help to you.

> I just happened to mention MeshAP to a friend and he just happened to > mention it to one of the Mayoral candidates... The guy wants a proposal for making South Pittsburg, TN an entirely wireless community. Now, > this is an area with more dogs and broken down cars and doublewides than any place on earth, but hey, it's election time! ;-) How many > completely wireless towns are there in the US?  Or the world, for that  matter?  10-20?

Let me set the scene for you... There's a tree canopy at about 40 feet throughout the town. The town is about 5.2 miles in diameter, bordered on the west by 1-2K ft hills, and on east by the Tennessee river. There's a cell tower on the hill to the west, overlooking the city, and another on the east side of the river. I have a map, but this mail list won't let me send it :-(. I'd be glad to send it directly to anyone who  might be able to help. > Am I thinking correctly regarding the general edge-to-edge placement of > nodes approximately 2000 feet apart under the treeline, or should I > place them closer/farther?  I'm envisioning a streetside lightpost > placement (halfway up) throughout the town as needed.  There are a few > tall buildings (2-3 floors) downtown, but I can use them for node > placement.  I'm mostly worried about the tree cover.  Any ideas on how > many nodes I'd need?  I count 13 in my map, but maybe they need to be 20 > or something... Maybe 10 or even 8 are required.  Anyone have a feel for > this? > > Now, who's dealt with the Police and Fire departments?  We've also got a > proposal to the police Dept for in-car computers.  We're thinking > mini-itx in the trunk, touch screens, with Wi-Fi for access to the town > network. Can anyone provide any tips??? Any info we can give to the > FD?