Transcript SOPRA and the GTA West

GTA West / Medium and High Speed
back bone link infrastructure
first draft proposal Sept 2008 / updated March 2009
SOPRA and the GTA West
Southern Ontario Packet Radio Association, Inc.
In association with:
GTA West ARES Packet Working Group
Peel ARC inc.
West Side Radio Club Toronto
http://www.packetradio.ca
http://www.peelarc.org/
http://www.ve3jj.com/
March 17, 2009
Simplex station to station
A typical Packet radio user node is an AX.25 1200 bps
2M/VHF or a 9600 bps or 1200 bps 70cm/UHF link. For
those using 20M HF Packet, the data rate is fixed at 300
bps.
Point to Point Simplex operation using connected or unconnect mode AX.25 mode frames is a reasonable local
open access model. However, it does not scale to allow
direct access to stations beyond the useable reach of
the frequency being used.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Simplex station to station to station
Outside of using HF for long distance packet, the AX.25
standard relied on digipeating along a common frequency.
In the early days of packet radio 145.010MHz was used and
in was possible to digipeat from Toronto north to Sudbury or
east to Ottawa. However the DCD access model allowed
two stations to walk on each others signal as hidden
transmitters. In many cases resulting in an increase in retries.
This further reduced the maximum channel usage
expected for an Aloha packet model.
For this reason BBS and USER access NODES no longer use a
common packet radio frequency. This Local Area Network
organization allows regional/frequency based access
without the congestion resulting from hidden transmitters.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
LAN to LAN internetworking
To achieve networking between user LAN frequencies many
BBS and Network Node operators make use of dual port
TNCs that support gateway or hardware or software based
network cluster.
Hardware only solutions (diode bridge/matrix)
Node operators have used hardware only solutions such as
a diode matrix arrays that allows NETROM nodes to
intercommunicate via bridging the RS232 Serial ports of
many TNCs. This is a practical solution for many remote
nodes as no Personal Computer hardware is required to
support. However the down side is that only one TNC can
talk over the diode bridge at a time in a half duplex fashion.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Networking Technologies
NETROM
The biggest challenge in linking network nodes as been
identifying which nodes are available, what is the best path.
This challenge was first overcome by making use of a
network node technology called NETROM. With NETROM
each node beacons it node name and call sign at a regular
interval and also retransmits the node names and call signs
that it has heard.
Limits and timers are established to age out dead nodes
and arbitrary quality value is assigned to different radio ports
to assist managing duplicate link paths. Ideally you would
be linked via the best quality path in the case where
multiple paths exist to the destination you are routing too.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Networking Technologies … continued
INSERT NETROM EXAMPLE HERE
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Networking Technologies … continued
IP Networking
IPv4 networking has been around for a number years. Most
notably IP Networking is the foundation of the Internet and
makes use of static and dynamic routing solution to bridge
LAN subnets together. The dynamic routing solutions
employed on the Internet today allow for self healing
networks and load balancing to make efficient use of
multiple paths from one end point to another.
The use of this technology for Amateur Packet Radio was
advanced by several amateur including KA9Q the creator
of the first practical networking operating system (NOS) that
bridged TCP/IP, AX.25, NETROM and provided a simplified
BBS.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Network Operating System(s)
NOS
Today we have several flavours of NOS such as TNOS and
JNOS. The key point is they are all Network Operating
Systems that bridge between physical layers such as
Wired Ethernet, Serial PPP, and Radio port solutions
running AX.25 and NETROM.
Note: INSERT MORE BACK GROUND ON KA9Q NOS AND ITS
SPIN OFFS!
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
GTA West
RF Based Packet Network
Phase I – user nodes
VE3PRC-7
User port 1200bps / 145.01 MHz
145.01
WESTON:VE3CON-7
User port 1200bps / 145.03 MHz
145.03
ACTON:VE3INF-7
User port 1200bps /145.05 MHz
145.05
http://www.packetradio.ca
VE3PRC
VE3CON
VE3INF
March 17, 2009
GTA West … continued
Phase II – establish AX.25/NETROM RF Backbone link
SOPRA has several 220MHz data link radio previously used
To link Oshawa, Toronto, Brampton and Georgetown.
These radios can be re-crystalled and tuned up band if
needed.
VE3CON 220/1 VE3PRC 220/2 VE3INF
The 220 MHz band allows for maximum 100KHz band
width and has a lower noise floor than the 145 MHz
channels. This will allow for faster than 9600 bps link
speeds.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
GTA West … continued
Phase III – Turn on AMPRnet / IPv4 network via RF Backbone link
The IPv4 network space for Amateur use has established
assignments for the greater Toronto area:
IPv4 address
RF Region
44.135.88.0/24Toronto
44.135.89.0/24Pickering-Oshawa
44.135.90.0/24Halton
44.135.91.0/24Mississauga
44.135.92.0/24York Region
44.135.93.0/24Etobicoke North
44.135.94.0/24Orangeville
44.135.95.0/24Halton-Hills
44.135.200.0/24
Mississauga West
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
GTA West … continued
In the phase III roll out we can enable IPv4 routing to the
three initial locations using the VE3PRC location as the
primary hub to link East to Toronto and North to HaltonHill.
As additional club nodes come online additional links
south to VE3MIS Mississauga, Burlington, and Oakville can
be established.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
GTA West … continued
Phase IV – Establish a 1.2GHz high speed link (D-STAR)
Making use of new ICOM ID-1 radios, local club and
SOPRA sponsored packet radio nodes VE3PRC, VE3CON,
VE3INF and add them in parallel to the existing 220MHz
network.
VE3CON 1.2GHz VE3PRC 1.2GHz VE3INF
parallel / redundant networks
VE3CON 220/1 VE3PRC 220/2 VE3INF
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
GTA West … continued
When the ID-1 Radios provide reliable direct links, the
existing 220MHz links radios can then be redeploy to
other clubs wishing to link into the network.
VE3CON 1.2GHz VE3PRC 1.2GHz VE3INF
VE3CON 220/1
East to GTA-EAST (Scarborough/Pickering/Oshawa)
VE3PRC 220/2 VE3MIS
West/South
VE3INF 220/3 (Guelph/Kitchener/Barrie/York Region)
North/West/East
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
GTA West … continued
Phase IV – Establish a 1.2GHz high speed mobile packet go kit
Making use of a ICOM ID-1 radios to create a TCP/IP go kit that can
be deployed at ARES direct sites such as regional hospitals.
Proposed key components: ICOM ID-1, Antenna, Industrial Network
controller, Ethernet cables, power cables.
Mode of operation
The ICOM ID-1 data radio natively makes use of IPv4 address to
pass data on 1200MHz using the D-STAR networking protocol. The
radio has a Ethernet port with a fix ip address. The Industrial
Network controller will act as a DHCP server bridging a normal
Windows OS PC or Laptop and the ID-1 radio. This will allow any
computer available to ARES to be networked into the AMPRnet
without requiring additional software. The operator can make use
of a Web Browser and normal mail client.
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Network Players
To build a viable network:
Southern Ontario Packet Radio Association Inc.
(VE3CON, VE3INF, VE3TDS, VE3PKG, VE3YAP) – http://www.packetradio.ca
GTA West ARES Packet Working Group
West Side Radio Club – http://www.ve3jj.com
Peel ARC Inc.
(VE3PRC) http://www.peelarc.org/packet_radio.htm
Mississauga ARC Inc.
(VE3MIS) http://www.marc.on.ca
and you!
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009
Extra slide(s)
Example BBS/NETROM node
Moving data between AX.25 LAN user frequencies has
typically involved dual port TNCs, diode bridge node
stacks, or other bridging technologies. In the case of
many modern node stack (software based) solutions
each radio port is addressable as a separate KISS serial
port.
220MHz
Link radio
145.03 MHz
1200bps LAN
VE3CON
BBS
NETROM
http://www.packetradio.ca
March 17, 2009