The Melbourne Wireless Firmware is a firmware image for wireless routers for the purpose of creating and extending the Melbourne Wireless community network.

Currently, the Melbourne Wireless Firmware is a slightly-modified Freifunk Firmware image.  Customisations and localisations will be added via add-on packages.  We will stick with Freifunk until it's planned merge back into OpenWRT.


! Future Plans
Planned add-on features for the Melbourne Wireless firmware include the integration of the (http://melbournewireless.org.au/wiki/index.php?MWRPHotspot MWHotspot) package. Also planned are further social networking features such as guestbooks and other ways to communicate with other users of the same hotspot.

! Firmware Builder
The Firmware is distributed via the Melbourne Wireless website using the (http://melbournewireless.org.au/wiki/index.php?FirmwareBuilder Firmware Builder).  The Firmware Builder makes the task of configuring and customising the firmware very easy.

! Routing Protocol
(http://www.olsr.org OLSR) is the routing protocol used by the firmware.  OLSR is easy to configure and has features that are well-suited to community wireless networks.  OLSR allows single-radio nodes to participate in a routed IP network with no need to plan link paths or coordinate IP addresses.  A netmask of 255.255.0.0 is appropriate for network interfaces

! Network Interface Layout

                \|/
            WIFI |
                 |
 +---------------+-+
 |                 |
 |                 |
 |  _ _ _ _     _  |
 | | | | | |   | | |
 +-----------------+
     LAN       WAN

WIFI:
* Interface is separated from the LAN ports.  
* The OLSR routing protocol is active on the WIFI interface
* Configured for open access, and is firewalled from the LAN interface
* The Melbourne Wireless IP allocation is used on the WIFI interface
* The IP address = Melbourne Wireless allocation + 1
* Has a netmask of 255.255.0.0 to allow direct, unplanned, one-hop radio communication to other Melbourne Wireless Firmware nodes
* Radio is in Adhoc mode, on Channel 10, with the SSID "melbournewireless.org.au"
* WEP is not supported at all - and is pointless on a public network.
* DHCP is active on this interface, allowing casual visitors access to the Melbourne Wireless network.

LAN:
* The private network interface
* Wired Internet access can be connected to this interface and shared via the WIFI interface.
* DHCP is active on this interface
* OLSR is not active on this interface

WAN:
* Is unconfigured by default
* Not all routers have a WAN port - e.g. the WL-HDD
* OLSR can be made to run on this interface and be cable-linked to other Freifunk boxes (apparently - untested)

! Design Philosophy
The primary design aim behind the firmware is reducing the learning-curve and the hardware costs involved in building a node.  These have previously been major barriers to participation in the Melbourne Wireless network.  Using OLSR routing in conjunction with a single wifi radio in adhoc mode with an omnidirectional antenna allows node-owners to make links with similar nearby nodes easily, with no pre-planning required.  The hardware costs for such a single-radio node are a fraction of the cost of a multi-radio node that uses directional antennas.  However, for node-owners wanting to add more radios to their setup, multiple routers can be connected together at the same location.  Or the node-owner can build their own router and their own operating system, run the OLSR protocol on it and be compatible with the Melbourne Wireless Firmware.

! Freifunk Firmware / OpenWRT
The Freifunk Firmware is based on (http://openwrt.org OpenWRT) WhiteRussian.  Any of the routers listed as being supported by WhiteRussian on the OpenWRT (http://wiki.openwrt.org/TableOfHardware Table Of Hardware) in theory is compaitble with the Melbourne Wireless firmware.  We have found that currently the most easily available compatible routers in Australia are the Asus WL-HDD, WL-500g and WL-500g Premium.  Older versions of the Linksys WRT54G and the WRT54GL are also compatible.  We eagerly await the first stable release of OpenWRT Kamikaze so that we can create a Kamikaze-derived Melbourne Wireless Firmware for the (http://meraki.net/products/mini/ Meraki Mini) community wireless router.

! Installation
The Melbourne Wireless firmware images can be flashed (installed) to a compatible router by the end-user.  The installation method can vary between routers - the best documentation is the (http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Installing OpenWRT Installation Guide).  If you have an (http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Asus/WL500GP Asus wl-500g Premium), please pay special attention to the OpenWRT installation notes for this device.