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I’d like distributed networking, please?
January 3rd, 2007 | Filed under Blog, Ideas, Technology
I was listening to the latest TWIM and a concept that I hadn’t heard about recently popped up; the idea of distributed networking. In my mind this means taking every node (computer, wireless access point, pda, etc..) and turning it into a way for everyone to share bandwidth and thus increase speed…I would love to be educated further in this topic, but I digress.
Now I know this sounds like a hippy-type-way to provide net access, but think about how much bandwidth is waisted by having all of these wireless networks in a one block radius. There are at least 15 networks in range of my MBP and if it wasn’t illegal (according to my ISP) we could share a connection and get the net for pennies…but of course the speed would suck. Plus I wouldn’t want to share my connection due to my ISP’s capped bandwidth as I already eat up my allotment.
Now there is an alternative ISP in town, Lawrence Free Net, but I can’t get access to their service as I live in an apartment and can’t place a receiver/transmitter on my building. The idea however sounds great. Place a receiver/transmitter on your house and you get a Cat-5 line to do with as you please. The receiver/transmitter on your house then rebroadcasts the Internet signal to strengthen the network and expand the coverage. I’m not claiming that I understand everything about the service, their website offers little to no info, but I love the concept of the idea.
Anyway, just thought I’d toss this idea back out into the ether that is the interwebs and drop a plug from TWIM (This Week in Media) as well. If you are at all interested production/content creation on the web check this podcast out.
January 5th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
I didn’t listen to the podcast, but we talked a bit about what you described in a Wireless class I took last semester.
Ad-hoc networks, where each node is essentially a router as well as a regular ‘user’ has a lot of research put into it. They are mostly demonstrated in situations where there is no existing network structure, and a network must be deployed rapidly and with any permanent basestation — like on a battlefield.
However, we also did some research on using WiMax in the exact situation you describe. There are a few proposed protocols that use WiMax to create an ad-hoc network in a neighborhood where only one machine is actually connect to the Internet.
Pretty interesting stuff. We focused on how one particular machine could remain anonymous in a situation like that, i.e. how could a particular machines traffic be indistinguishable from another in the same network to other members of the network and to an outside observer.
Believe it or not, there is a way! — uses a Tor like system to pass around messages.
Anyhoo,
Excite truck is pretty sweet
January 6th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Sweet! I’m not crazy. Thanks for the info…I figured that someone knew more about it than I did. Hope you’re enjoying the rest of your “vacation.”