CentMesh The Centennial Wireless Mesh Testbed Project CentMesh The Centennial Wireless Mesh Testbed Project CentMesh is aproject to build a highly programmable, extensible, open testbed to support research and education on the design of wireless mesh networks, as well as IT systems and applications enabled by wireless mesh networks, on Centennial Campus, the “Living Laboratory” of North Carolina State University. General information: Technical details, manuals, code documentation and download: Future Directions A testbed such as CentMesh can significantly increase the value of research by providing a unique validation environment unique in its realism. We expect researcher interest in CentMesh capabilities and research enrichment by CentMesh to form a synergy that enables growth of CentMesh in span, capabilities (advanced and emerging technologies such as WiMax, Software Defined Radio) and application enablement (transport planning, location aided computing, augmented reality), funded at least in part by funds obtained by researchers, aided by the availability of CentMesh itself. Roadmap We are proceeding in three stages. Stage 1: The fabricated nodes are tested in an indoor environment; Stage 2: The fabricated nodes are tested on the push-carts; Stage 3: Both commercial and fabricated nodes are semi- permanently installed outdoor in the Centennial Campus. In Spring 2010, we are close to completing Stage two and preparing for Stage three. For Stage 3, we need support for mounting the hardware of our choice on between 10 and 14 poles on campus, with available electric supply, and wired network access at two of these locations. Operational Logistics We are quite conscious of the responsibility of NCSU Communications Technology and other operational entities, and the operation of CentMesh will always defer to the need of production network infrastructure if conflicts arise with wireless spectrum. We have been working closely with COMTECH as well as with technical modeling, and at this time estimate that serious spectrum conflicts are unlikely to arise.

Vision Goal Objectives Realization People We envision a future backbone of the wireless information highway spanning the Centennial Campus, a unique resource for researchers not only in wireless networking, but in diverse other technical and sociological fields enabled by pervasive wireless communications. The primary goal of CentMesh is to enable multi-disciplinary research in a wide, distributed geographical area with a diverse population. The Centennial Campus is an ideal location for this goal, as the campus is uniquely merging academia (with students, teachers and researchers) and industry (both established companies such as RedHat and small start-ups), while having a distinct urban flavor, featuring a hotel, a middle-school, condominiums and a golf course. To enable the envisioned research we plan to build an outdoor wireless mesh network testbed. Wireless mesh networks are a relatively new paradigm that allow dense outdoor wireless coverage without the expense of an extensive wired backbone to each of the base stations. Despite related commercial and academic efforts on other wireless mesh testbeds, the envisioned testbed is unique in its capabilities: several companies built and/or operate small testbeds (e.g., Cisco, Google, Tropos, Motorola), but their main goal is either in testing the products themselves or in providing service, rather than serving as infrastructure for research. Similarly, several academic testbeds (e.g., Orbit, Emulab, CitySense, RoofNet) are primarily focused on research on the wireless mesh network technology rather than enabling broad and multi-disciplinary research. In contrast, CentMesh is being purposefully designed and built for general use, and for ease of extensibility in many directions; initially for investigating design and security of emerging network paradigms, and expanding even to humanities such as study of sociological behavior. Additionally, CentMesh will provide a pedagogical resource to courses from a large variety of disciplines. We plan on two distinct realizations of the overarching CentMesh testbed. Each of these two complementary parts of the testbed is designed to enable multi-disciplinary research. One realization will rely on fabricated equipment for maximum flexibility; the fabricated nodes will be based on commodity PCs that will allow a variety of future extensions such as cameras, specialized sensors, new wireless technologies, etc. This part of the testbed will be ideally suited for multi-disciplinary research that requires additional parts integrated in the testbed and/or in- network processing. Additional fabricated nodes are available on mobile push-carts, allowing for research involving mobility on a small scale. The second realization will rely on a commercial implementation of a wireless mesh system; the commercial nodes will enable research on top of the wireless mesh network, i.e., primarily transmitting the data over the network without intermediate processing at nodes. The two are designed to operate concurrently, for maximum benefit. The project is currently sponsored through two grants from the Army Research Office (ARO): the first is a part of the Secure Open Systems Initiative (SOSI), providing GRA support for some of the students working on the project; the second is a Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) funding most of the equipment used in the testbed. The Institute for Next Generation IT Systems (ITng) is assisting with Stage 3 deployment (see next). Dr. Rudra Dutta and Dr. Mihail Sichitiu are lead Pis executing the project, with the aid of several bright graduate