Sick speed on PtaWUG

StrongTurd

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I've been on the PtaWUG for a couple of months now and have found it to be a blast. My connection was down since some time this afternoon, though, (this does not happen often) and just came back on a few minutes ago.

So anyways, the gamers must have also been offline because when I came back up I started downloading a torrent and managed to download an entire 700MB file in 3 minutes 12 seconds! That's more than 7 MegaBYTES per second sustained! I was dumbstruck! This just shows you what this WiFi technology is capable of.

This made me think: How much of a slowdown are we going to see as more and more people join the WUG? I'm sure that the clever guys like ProtzKrog must have given this subject much thought but how do you guys monitor congestion on the WUG's backbone?
 
oi StrongTurd, whats your nick on IRC ?

As more users join, more highsites are put up or existing highsites are upgraded with more sector antennas to spread the load between the radios. Also more backbones between the sites to provide additional capacity. For me the wug is actually faster now than in the beginning when there were only a few people.

Look at the western part of centurion, there are 6 highsites covering a small area - the amount of users and the willingness of users to find and put up new highsites dictates how the network will expand and grow.
 
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I can't share the same experience. When I joined I connected to RL. The speeds was great back then but slowly as everyone joined the highsite it just slowed down, which is understandable. Now I'm connecting to RV but the speeds is very slow.
 
oi StrongTurd, whats your nick on IRC ?

As more users join, more highsites are put up or existing highsites are upgraded with more sector antennas to spread the load between the radios. Also more backbones between the sites to provide additional capacity. For me the wug is actually faster now than in the beginning when there were only a few people.

And the more sectors you put up the more you pollute the spectrum because 5.8ghz uses Viterbi, no Reed-Solomon or Turbo decoding which would have brought it to Wimax like S/N ratios. Since we are using crippled technology the need is even greater to use the infinite light spectrum via RONJA - http://ronja.twibright.com/mesh.php to create a local network with multiple people connecting to one house over 1.4km and multiple 1.4km(2.8, 3.2km) distances. Ten people connecting via RONJA to one 5.8ghz dish means 10 less spectrum polluters and more stable networks.

For extended distance RONJA links use any size Fresnel lens as :
* http://www.bikudo.com/products.do?tmp=1&show_save=yes&keyword=Fresnel+Lens&search_method=2&sa=1
Fresnel lenses of 300 x 300mm to focus Ronja LED light on PIN diode.

It is impossible to find large size Jewelers Loupes lenses, the Fresnel is a better solution. For 1.4km links the smaller Loupes will be fine, but with larger Frensel the distances can be extended.
 
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I'm sorry but you've lost me there, Captain. So what you're saying is that the signal to noise ratio on a 5.8GHz WUG will decrease as its coverage increases? And then you talk about fresnel lenses and LEDs. That sounds like some kind of OPTICAL technology to me?

Please would you repeat what you said in layman's terms?
 
I'm sorry but you've lost me there, Captain.

Don't worry... This condition is better known as "CaptainWifi'itus" and can be treated by taking an ignorit tablet... Freely available at most pharmacies!
 
I've been on the PtaWUG for a couple of months now and have found it to be a blast. My connection was down since some time this afternoon, though, (this does not happen often) and just came back on a few minutes ago.

So anyways, the gamers must have also been offline because when I came back up I started downloading a torrent and managed to download an entire 700MB file in 3 minutes 12 seconds! That's more than 7 MegaBYTES per second sustained! I was dumbstruck! This just shows you what this WiFi technology is capable of.

This made me think: How much of a slowdown are we going to see as more and more people join the WUG? I'm sure that the clever guys like ProtzKrog must have given this subject much thought but how do you guys monitor congestion on the WUG's backbone?

OK, found someone using Wug. What is the advantages, err what can you do when joining a Wug?
 
I'm sorry but you've lost me there, Captain. So what you're saying is that the signal to noise ratio on a 5.8GHz WUG will decrease as its coverage increases? And then you talk about fresnel lenses and LEDs. That sounds like some kind of OPTICAL technology to me?

Please would you repeat what you said in layman's terms?

Lets presume 30 people connect to 10 houses via Ronja. These 10 houses in turn aim ONE 5.8ghz parabolic dish to the JAWUG highsite. Thus 30 people share one Wi-Fi transmitter, instead of each of these 30 people aiming 30 individual 5.8ghz dishes to a JAWUG highsite sector antenna using up limited bandwidth.

The houses adjacent share between them a DSLAM network. Each house has 3 RONJA http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/FreeSpaceOptics to connect distant 1.4km users. The DSLAM network in turn parcels out the bandwidth to each of the 40 users from the single 5.8ghz antenna. Each RONJA provides 10meg, thus the local LAN created has more than enough bandwidth, since each RONJA would first go through the local DSLAM network before connecting to the other RONJA. The bottleneck is with the limited RF bandwidth on 5.8ghz. Wi-Fi signal to noise ratio S/N is not that of Wimax , thus it isn't optimizing the spectrum as much as wimax does. Wimax and LTE has major multi-path dispersion issues because the signals bounce of the buildings. Establish RONJA hotspots which in turn link up with a parabolic to a Wimax or LTE tower.

http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/TransimpedenceAmp describes how to build an FSO receiver. The code and schematics are from Chicago University in an optic application they built for the CERN collider. The LED transmission side RONJA handles very well , it is the receiver side that I can't fathom what they are trying to achieve since of the shelf ICs are available(but expensive), you don't need to hack a design with BJTs. Building a pure analogue system as RONJA means that you won't be able to go above 10Meg , only ICs will allow 100Meg the switching limit of a LED.

The input stages are Femionics PIN input diode coupled to a Transimpedance amplifier and then Post amplifier.
ST-M13A306 optical input -> noise filter -> Phillips TZA3033 Transimpedance -> noise filter -> TZA3034 Post Amplifier ->LV-PECL to LVDS

Study the datasheets on the PHillips Pre and post amplifiers of optic signals and it is clear that building a 155Mbit receiver system isn't complicated. The Chicago design uses the same ICs as in a fiber optic SONET network.

== Switching led now at 400Meg ==
http://www.firecomms.com/tech-RCLED.html seems to have made a breakthrough, claiming 400Meg. Flash the led through a Fresnel lens to a Transimpedence amp on the other side and you should get a 155Meg link. Catch is it seems they won't sell individual RCLEDs. Only solution is then to buy http://www.molex.com/cmc_upload/0/000/-14/401/smipof_ds.pdf Transceiver units and remove the RCLED from the package. Available in SA from
http://dataweek.co.za/news.aspx?pklNewsId=26040&pklCategoryID=48
 
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captainscifi, please build all the stuff you copy and paste and build a network, start DOING something other than copying and pasting.
 
I've read all the information on the WUG website about joining but after you've actually connected to the network how do you then find out what you can actually do on the network?
 
There's a website in the form of a Wiki that you'll be able to reach at IP 172.20.1.1 once you are connected. It will tell you everything you need to know.
 
i also checked out the WUG site. looks like alot to be done to get started but it's prolly worth it. Please remind me whats the total installation cost like. i am in Centurion, Die Hoewes/Lyttelton not far from Unitas. I assume theres line of sight to some of your transmitters.
 
KSINGH goto www.ptawug.co.za - look at the ads from miro and scoop on the top right, you will find the different options and prices there.

also plot your location on www.wug.za.net, download the google earth KML to see all the highsites and then do line of sight tests.

The whole process is explained in great detail in the getting started guide on www.ptawug.co.za
 
KSINGH goto www.ptawug.co.za - look at the ads from miro and scoop on the top right, you will find the different options and prices there.

also plot your location on www.wug.za.net, download the google earth KML to see all the highsites and then do line of sight tests.

The whole process is explained in great detail in the getting started guide on www.ptawug.co.za

thx, will do so. but can i pay someone to do a full setup?
 
you can probably
half the fun is doing it yourself (just follow the step by step guide containing detailed instructions and photos)
PTAWUG is not a business, it's a community network. Part of the goal is to transfer and build skills and knowledge.
 
most of my DIY stuff is on hold since the baby arrived! The WUG will be another addition to my wishlist if I don't get somebody to do it for me.
 
get a buddy to help, and it's a 2 hour job, to build the routerboard into the enclosure, put up a pole, pull cat5 and align the antenna. Saturday morning, easy peasy.
 
There's a website in the form of a Wiki that you'll be able to reach at IP 172.20.1.1 once you are connected. It will tell you everything you need to know.

Thanks will by my kit at the end of the month.
 
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