We have done 3 802.11b networks each consisting of a minimum radious of 5.5 miles to cover the facilities. Each uses one 12db Omni antennae as the central point, then a mix of directional antennae at the client points. We have the main antennae at 40' above ground on fairly flat terrain. I have actually gotten a working signal as far away as 25 miles using a very short cable and a 25db antennae but that was just a test.
The only problem I see with this is that the mesh must end in an internet connection of reasonable bandwidth like T1 or higher. In my area that would mean that the mesh must pass the signal at a reasonable latency (say 80ms or less for games) over 40 miles to the nearest currently terminated high speed connection. Unless they put terminations in huts along the road this will be a major problem.
I agree however, that this type of system has merit.
Thought Hardened PCs are expensive, our company has had very good luck with Panasonic's Toughbook. The vendor said we could run over them even, so to his surprise, we did, they have been dropped out of moving vehicles and continued to operate for long periods of time. In fact my only complaints regarding these are the wimpy powerplug, and the touchscreen. The touchscreens burn out a rapid rate, while the normal ones last forever. No idea on humidity or salt, I live in a desert.
Actually, under modern law, computer cycles are property. That is one of the things that companies always sue for along with other things when someone hacks into or otherwise causes a disruption of their system. Look into the college that sued its employee when they installed a grid computing program to crack the RSA algorithm while everyone was on Christmas break. Main gist is that he stole CPU cycles, something which the law says had value.
Actually it is a good example. This is because even if you don't subscribe to it, your information is still passed along in the coding to those parties that do, so the phone company has to encode all the lines. The call blocker is a paid for opt-out feature. Therefore, the costs are spread to all but the benefits only to those that subscribe.
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We have done 3 802.11b networks each consisting of a minimum radious of 5.5 miles to cover the facilities. Each uses one 12db Omni antennae as the central point, then a mix of directional antennae at the client points. We have the main antennae at 40' above ground on fairly flat terrain. I have actually gotten a working signal as far away as 25 miles using a very short cable and a 25db antennae but that was just a test.
The only problem I see with this is that the mesh must end in an internet connection of reasonable bandwidth like T1 or higher. In my area that would mean that the mesh must pass the signal at a reasonable latency (say 80ms or less for games) over 40 miles to the nearest currently terminated high speed connection. Unless they put terminations in huts along the road this will be a major problem.
I agree however, that this type of system has merit.
Thought Hardened PCs are expensive, our company has had very good luck with Panasonic's Toughbook. The vendor said we could run over them even, so to his surprise, we did, they have been dropped out of moving vehicles and continued to operate for long periods of time. In fact my only complaints regarding these are the wimpy powerplug, and the touchscreen. The touchscreens burn out a rapid rate, while the normal ones last forever. No idea on humidity or salt, I live in a desert.
Actually, under modern law, computer cycles are property. That is one of the things that companies always sue for along with other things when someone hacks into or otherwise causes a disruption of their system. Look into the college that sued its employee when they installed a grid computing program to crack the RSA algorithm while everyone was on Christmas break. Main gist is that he stole CPU cycles, something which the law says had value.
--All sigs are attitude.
Actually it is a good example. This is because even if you don't subscribe to it, your information is still passed along in the coding to those parties that do, so the phone company has to encode all the lines. The call blocker is a paid for opt-out feature. Therefore, the costs are spread to all but the benefits only to those that subscribe.