Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network
Encyclopedia
Started in 2002 in Athens
Greece
, Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network (AWMN) is a grassroots
wireless community, taking advantage of new, state of the art wireless technologies, to connect people and services. The network comprises 1120 backbone nodes (as of Aug, 2010) and more than 2900 client computers
connect to it. More than 9,000 people have stated their intention to join AWMN in the near future. There is also an association-club named awmn.
, the capital of Greece
, its activities no longer limited to the single city. It covers a geographical area (110 km from North to South and 85 km from West to East) with the most southern point being Palaia Epidavros (Epidaurus
) and the most northern point being the town of Nea Artaki
on the island of Euboea
. The wide expansion of the network allows isolated areas with poor technological and broadband infrastructure to connect with the Athenian network, providing these accesses to a plethora of services with high speeds. Also the islands of Aegina, Salamina and the regions surrounding Athens are connected to the network.
In anticipation of connecting to AWMN, small wireless 'islets' have been created in other cities and on other islands where AWMN has contributed with technical know-how and equipment. Recently the island of Euboea connected with more links with AWMN for redundancy purposes and the next stage will be to join the wireless 'islets' located in Corinth
, Lamia (city)
and Volos
. There are also plans to reach even more remote cities of Greece such as Patras.
For wireless 'islets' and communities that is impossible to connect wirelessly, a VPN pool has been provided. This year AWMN connected most of the Greek communities and managed to cross the Greek boarders. It has initiated a VPN connection with the newly founded wlan ljubljana
network in Ljubljana
, Slovenia
with the vision to connect all the wireless communities of Europe into one Network.
network, which allowed its users to experience real broadband services. However after a short period from its birth AWMN started to change. An increasing number of people started to have an interest in the network, expressing their interest in joining this project. The number of network nodes started to grow exponentially, and the network's character changed from an alternative telecom network to a social network of people based on their interest in the IT/Telecom sector. The network was always something alternative to just pure internet access medium. While now users and backbone nodes owners live in a much more mature broadband environment, they have not stopped being excited and active in the AWMN network. More services are emerging and more uses of high speed symmetrical broadband are being found, tested, developed and freely enjoyed by the users for the users.
The network is a mosaic of people from varying ages and educational backgrounds including IT and telecommunications professionals, radio amateurs, IT students and technology enthusiasts. All are driven by a strong community spirit and contribute on a voluntary basis.
The objectives of the project include the following:
The association has around 67 members (as of Aug, 2010). Not all members of the backbone network are members of the association, and there are around 900 that do not want to participate to the association, claiming as a cause the extent of moderation and speech censorship that is practiced in the association's forum, wiki and assembly. Participation in the association has, throughout its history, always been on a voluntary basis. No one is obliged to sign a peering agreement as long as its not needed and no one has to join the Association to participate to the network rendering the AWMN network as one of the most open networks in the world. However all 1080 backbone node owners are obliged to accept responsibility for the smooth running of their node, follow the basic rules of the community and follow basic network neutrality rules.
(mainly for the Open APs) and 5.4GHz
(for the backbone links) license-free ISM
frequency bands. Over the last few years AWMN has tested (and later used in production environments) equipment from a huge variety of vendors.
The routing protocol used by the network is BGP. Efforts have been made to move towards new, more adaptive and experimental protocols such as OLSR and B.A.T.M.A.N.
while some members of the AWMN community have contributed feedback and code to many Linux
routing projects.
Homebuilt equipment is encouraged; a great number of workshops have been held in order for members to become familiar with constructing their own aerials and cables and in addition, the community regularly organizes seminars to educate aspiring network administrators on wireless technologies, protocols, routing
and Linux
, in real conditions of a large-scale network.
A wide variety of software is being used in the network but AWMN services rely heavily on Open-source software
, GNU
/Linux
(or other free Unix
variants) while those type of operating systems are the choice for most of the servers that actively serve the network.
came to life so all community members could exchange ideas, arrange meetings, organize wireless links and discuss various points of interest. Nowadays the services provided by the network have evolved to a full-featured internal VoIP network, High Definition streaming services, game servers, file sharing
services, hundreds of users/nodes webpages, network statistics services, routing
, network monitoring
, weather station
s, VPN servers and just about anything and any service that someone would come across on the Internet.
A highlight to mention is the WiND project
(WiND) project. As a large-scale network and community, AWMN has the need for a central management tool to display important node details. WiND is a Web Application
targeted at Wireless Community Networks
, such AWMN which has been created by members of AWMN. WiND provides a front-end interface to a database
where information of the nodes
can be stored, such as position details, DNS
, IP addressing and a list of provided network service
s.
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network (AWMN) is a grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
wireless community, taking advantage of new, state of the art wireless technologies, to connect people and services. The network comprises 1120 backbone nodes (as of Aug, 2010) and more than 2900 client computers
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
connect to it. More than 9,000 people have stated their intention to join AWMN in the near future. There is also an association-club named awmn.
Cultural and geographical context
Although the network began in AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, the capital of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, its activities no longer limited to the single city. It covers a geographical area (110 km from North to South and 85 km from West to East) with the most southern point being Palaia Epidavros (Epidaurus
Epidaurus
Epidaurus was a small city in ancient Greece, at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros : Palaia Epidavros and Nea Epidavros. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epidavros, part of the peripheral unit of Argolis...
) and the most northern point being the town of Nea Artaki
Nea Artaki
Nea Artaki is a town and a former municipality on the island Euboea, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chalcis, of which it is a municipal unit. Nea Artaki is located north of Chalcis. The Greek National Road 77 links it with Chalcis and northern Euboea...
on the island of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
. The wide expansion of the network allows isolated areas with poor technological and broadband infrastructure to connect with the Athenian network, providing these accesses to a plethora of services with high speeds. Also the islands of Aegina, Salamina and the regions surrounding Athens are connected to the network.
In anticipation of connecting to AWMN, small wireless 'islets' have been created in other cities and on other islands where AWMN has contributed with technical know-how and equipment. Recently the island of Euboea connected with more links with AWMN for redundancy purposes and the next stage will be to join the wireless 'islets' located in Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
, Lamia (city)
Lamia (city)
Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city has a continuous history since antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region .-Name:...
and Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
. There are also plans to reach even more remote cities of Greece such as Patras.
For wireless 'islets' and communities that is impossible to connect wirelessly, a VPN pool has been provided. This year AWMN connected most of the Greek communities and managed to cross the Greek boarders. It has initiated a VPN connection with the newly founded wlan ljubljana
Wlan ljubljana
Started in beginning of 2009 the wlan ljubljana open wireless network of Ljubljana aims to connect Ljubljana's public, artistic and cultural, production, educational, research and all other interested spaces and individuals into an autonomous and independent wireless network above Ljubljana, in...
network in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
with the vision to connect all the wireless communities of Europe into one Network.
Project history
AWMN was formed as a community back in 2002. Due to tremendous problems with broadband services in Greece in 2002 the number of such services available to home users was extremely limited. It was mainly due to this problem that AWMN was founded as an alternative broadbandBroadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
network, which allowed its users to experience real broadband services. However after a short period from its birth AWMN started to change. An increasing number of people started to have an interest in the network, expressing their interest in joining this project. The number of network nodes started to grow exponentially, and the network's character changed from an alternative telecom network to a social network of people based on their interest in the IT/Telecom sector. The network was always something alternative to just pure internet access medium. While now users and backbone nodes owners live in a much more mature broadband environment, they have not stopped being excited and active in the AWMN network. More services are emerging and more uses of high speed symmetrical broadband are being found, tested, developed and freely enjoyed by the users for the users.
The community
Due to its nature AWMN can be considered a network of people for the people. Within the AWMN community personal relationships play a very active role in the network development, encouraging its members to have a more active role in the community's social life. Users are categorised as backbone nodes and AP client nodes. The backbone nodes are nodes routing data that have no origin and destination themselves.The network is a mosaic of people from varying ages and educational backgrounds including IT and telecommunications professionals, radio amateurs, IT students and technology enthusiasts. All are driven by a strong community spirit and contribute on a voluntary basis.
The association
From the start of the project, care was taken by the non-profit AWMN association to build a wireless community network on a sound basis. The main purpose of the association is to promote two-way digital broadband telecommunication services to the public as a nonprofit activity, in collaboration with schools, local authorities, NGOs, independent regulatory authorities and other Community Wireless Networks in Greece.The objectives of the project include the following:
- Creating, developing and maintaining a Wireless Community Network which will provide broadband services to its members.
- Developing technologies based on wireless and digital telecommunications.
- Educate the public on the use of wireless and digital communications
- Promote and encourage volunteerism and active participation.
The association has around 67 members (as of Aug, 2010). Not all members of the backbone network are members of the association, and there are around 900 that do not want to participate to the association, claiming as a cause the extent of moderation and speech censorship that is practiced in the association's forum, wiki and assembly. Participation in the association has, throughout its history, always been on a voluntary basis. No one is obliged to sign a peering agreement as long as its not needed and no one has to join the Association to participate to the network rendering the AWMN network as one of the most open networks in the world. However all 1080 backbone node owners are obliged to accept responsibility for the smooth running of their node, follow the basic rules of the community and follow basic network neutrality rules.
Technological basis
Technology-wise, AWMN makes extensive use of the IEEE 802.11x (a/b/g/n) set of standards and operates on the 2.4GHzGHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
(mainly for the Open APs) and 5.4GHz
GHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
(for the backbone links) license-free ISM
ISM band
The industrial, scientific and medical radio bands are radio bands reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than communications....
frequency bands. Over the last few years AWMN has tested (and later used in production environments) equipment from a huge variety of vendors.
The routing protocol used by the network is BGP. Efforts have been made to move towards new, more adaptive and experimental protocols such as OLSR and B.A.T.M.A.N.
B.A.T.M.A.N.
The Better Approach To Mobile Adhoc Networking, or B.A.T.M.A.N., is a routing protocol which is currently under development by the “Freifunk”-Community and intended to replace OLSR....
while some members of the AWMN community have contributed feedback and code to many Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
routing projects.
Homebuilt equipment is encouraged; a great number of workshops have been held in order for members to become familiar with constructing their own aerials and cables and in addition, the community regularly organizes seminars to educate aspiring network administrators on wireless technologies, protocols, routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, in real conditions of a large-scale network.
A wide variety of software is being used in the network but AWMN services rely heavily on Open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
, GNU
GNU
GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
/Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
(or other free Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
variants) while those type of operating systems are the choice for most of the servers that actively serve the network.
Solutions and services
AWMN tried to unravel the problem of broadband in the greater area of Athens among the participants of the telecommunication network. The AWMN forumInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
came to life so all community members could exchange ideas, arrange meetings, organize wireless links and discuss various points of interest. Nowadays the services provided by the network have evolved to a full-featured internal VoIP network, High Definition streaming services, game servers, file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
services, hundreds of users/nodes webpages, network statistics services, routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
, network monitoring
Network monitoring
The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages...
, weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
s, VPN servers and just about anything and any service that someone would come across on the Internet.
A highlight to mention is the WiND project
Wireless Nodes Database
WiND is a Web application targeted at Wireless community networks.It was created as a replacement for for the members of Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network located in Athens, Greece.-License:...
(WiND) project. As a large-scale network and community, AWMN has the need for a central management tool to display important node details. WiND is a Web Application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
targeted at Wireless Community Networks
Wireless community network
Wireless community networks or wireless community projects are the organizations that attempt to take a grassroots approach to providing a viable alternative to municipal wireless networks for consumers....
, such AWMN which has been created by members of AWMN. WiND provides a front-end interface to a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
where information of the nodes
Node (networking)
In communication networks, a node is a connection point, either a redistribution point or a communication endpoint . The definition of a node depends on the network and protocol layer referred to...
can be stored, such as position details, DNS
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
, IP addressing and a list of provided network service
Network service
Network services are the foundation of a networked computing environment. Generally network services are installed on one or more servers to provide shared resources to client computers.- Network services in LAN :...
s.
See also
- List of wireless community networks
- Wireless Nodes DatabaseWireless Nodes DatabaseWiND is a Web application targeted at Wireless community networks.It was created as a replacement for for the members of Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network located in Athens, Greece.-License:...
(WiND) - Wireless Networks AssociationWireless Networks AssociationOfficially founded in 2009, but with activity since 2003, WNA or Wireless Networks Association is the non-profit association formed from users/members of Thessaloniki's Wireless Community Networks, a grassroots wireless community, taking advantage of new, state of the art wireless technologies, to...
(WNA) - Thessaloniki's Wireless Metropolitan Network (TWMN)TWMNTWMN, short for Thessaloniki's Wireless Metropolitan Network, is a user community in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. The purpose of the community is to promote the usage of wireless networking in the region of Thessaloniki and to create a city-wide wireless network that connects all parts of the...
- Patras Wireless Metropolitan Network (PWMN)Patras wireless metropolitan networkPatras Wireless Metropolitan Network is a free , open wifi network community of individuals who all share the same hobby; building and managing wireless networks. Currently PWMN is the dominant wireless network community in Patras, Greece...
- Heraklion Student Wireless NetworkHeraklion Student Wireless NetworkHeraklion Student Wireless Network is a city-wide, non-profit wireless community network in Heraklion, Crete. It is run and maintained by the users of the network, who at the beginning of the network's existence were exclusively members of the academic community of the University of Crete...
- Imathia Wireless Metropolitan Network (IWMN)
- OZOnet