Now that mesh chat is almost out of beta I'm trying to decide what my next project should be. Here are some ideas I have. If you like one in particular please post your vote, or if you have another idea please post that also.
IP Cam
Web app based on the VLC web plugin. This will have a db of all the RTSP capable ip cams on your mesh and you can easily see and possibly control them all from one web app. No more using the VLC desktop app and everyone needs to enter the rtsp url's manually. All consolidated and accessible from one easy to use web app.
CERT Assessment App
Web / iPhone / Android / Windows phone app for CERT assessment. The app will let you take photos, videos, and notes that are uploaded to a server on the mesh. Also has First Aid and other CERT info in the app. A mobile mesh node design and build plans for a AREDN node that fits into a backpack with WIFI and IP Cam capabilities. Backpack node also has GPS that the phone app will use when cell service is not available. Web app will show the location of mobile mesh nodes and their status.
HTTP Mesh Internet Proxy
A proxy server that provides password protected access to mesh nodes from the Internet. Instead of making a whole bunch of port forwards for every node you want Internet accessible, just browse to one IP/port and use URL's like http://<public ip>/K7FPV-QTH, http://<public ip>/K7FPV-Antelope, etc.
Solar System Monitor
Arduino+Dragino based system that monitors current and voltage of solar systems and graphs current flow and voltages, estimates run-time both from battery and panels. Configurable alerts.
Video Chat
WebRTC web app for very easy to use video conferencing on the mesh. Simply browse to a web app, see a list of users logged in and click to video chat. Will probably only work in Firefox / maybe Safari since Chrome requires SSL for WebRTC.
IP Cam
Web app based on the VLC web plugin. This will have a db of all the RTSP capable ip cams on your mesh and you can easily see and possibly control them all from one web app. No more using the VLC desktop app and everyone needs to enter the rtsp url's manually. All consolidated and accessible from one easy to use web app.
CERT Assessment App
Web / iPhone / Android / Windows phone app for CERT assessment. The app will let you take photos, videos, and notes that are uploaded to a server on the mesh. Also has First Aid and other CERT info in the app. A mobile mesh node design and build plans for a AREDN node that fits into a backpack with WIFI and IP Cam capabilities. Backpack node also has GPS that the phone app will use when cell service is not available. Web app will show the location of mobile mesh nodes and their status.
HTTP Mesh Internet Proxy
A proxy server that provides password protected access to mesh nodes from the Internet. Instead of making a whole bunch of port forwards for every node you want Internet accessible, just browse to one IP/port and use URL's like http://<public ip>/K7FPV-QTH, http://<public ip>/K7FPV-Antelope, etc.
Solar System Monitor
Arduino+Dragino based system that monitors current and voltage of solar systems and graphs current flow and voltages, estimates run-time both from battery and panels. Configurable alerts.
Video Chat
WebRTC web app for very easy to use video conferencing on the mesh. Simply browse to a web app, see a list of users logged in and click to video chat. Will probably only work in Firefox / maybe Safari since Chrome requires SSL for WebRTC.
first choice: CERT assessment app,
second choice: video chat
#2 CERT Assessment app
#3 Video chat
is already in use here - the bare-bones demo version. I have just been hoping to find someone who could do the java to get a reasonable front end on it with ham call user ID's, etc. I think Opera and Torch are two other browsers that may work. I have heard that Edge may also work (but not yet confirmed) The really neat part is that a number of smart phone browsers work with it. With a gateway, you could eliminate the need for a laptop within a certain distance. A handy feature for smart phones would be the ability to switch between the front facing camera and the "selfie" one.
As you point out, Chrome requires the encrypted (https:) version - some folks may be running part 15 and would be able to use that. Switching between the two versions is not all that hard, but if it only gets you one more browser then it may not be worth the effort.
If you do the reverse proxy I would like to see it work with non-internet "backbone' networks as well ...
The HTTP Proxy already exists, although I will say it could be simpler. The best way to do it IMHO is to set up an SSH server with the NONE cipher enabled (since the AREDN project refuses to do so for the nodes) and run a script set to use the NONE cipher and use the option -D1080. This will start a SOCKS proxy on localhost that gives you network access from the perspective of the SSH server, which presumably has Internet.
For what you're saying, I would definitely do a SOCKS proxy and bundle Privoxy configured to be an HTTP to SOCKS bridge (that's simple to set up, you really just have to uncomment and edit a single line) so you can use services other than HTTP.
Looks like lots of interest in the CERT app. Anyone have electronic CERT material they could share? Also is the mobile mesh node design important on your lists, or mainly just the app?
Is it worth having an Internet server for use with the app also? You will for sure be able to run it on a debian machine on your mesh. I know there are lots of scenarios where Internet will not be available, but there are some that it would be. For example we have bad wind storms here sometimes and trees go down on houses etc. App could be useful in that case where grid power and Internet are fine, but CERT is deployed to help with damage, injuries and cleanup.
Any other thoughts on what should be in the CERT app?
Also my wife was out of town today so Video Chat got some time since that is a easy one to do. Here is a teaser screen shot. Beta coming soon. This one is my son's favorite app so far :). He sure is testing it a lot.
Interesting? We have been running a team talk server for video chat. its not decentralized but has a lot of setting to tweek for video rez and sound settings allowing on to tune the video for the bandwith.Big help !
H264 RTSP multicast is the best way to go for bandwidth. dose your Video Chat v0.1 scribe to users multicast? I would like to see more info on your program
Cisco can tell you all about why
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk828/technologies_white_paper09186a0080...
There may be a problem with multicast routing in a adhoc network. quick search for :multicast in olsr yields interesting tropics. Ive got a head cold but I think that for true multi cast routing the clients will need to keep/build a multicast table to grab the broadcast packet. Any one eles follow?
We also have an incident reporting DB with a web interface. Is that of interest when you say CERT app. I know I had said before that the incidents could be plotted on a map ALong with other jason info from nodes.
http://www.aredn.org/content/multicast-audio is a fairly recent discussion around some of the pitfalls of multicast in a wireless network.
http://www.aredn.org/content/videochat-v01b1
HTTP Mesh Internet Proxy
Second, is it possible to load the video chat onto the SD card in the raspberry pi directly? When we did the reload on the stable SD card, I didn't have the backup available. Or should I just download the program onto the another SD card or hard drive, then copy it to the SD card now in the raspberry pi? I'd still like the video chat option.
Thank you!
David
Hi David,
First of all, I think you use the term "hotspot" to describe a node that has its RF port set to be a wireless access point. This is different from current, common usage where a "hotspot" is a low power RF device used to provide local access to a DMR (et. al.) radio.
What you describe is very doable and is something about which I have given short talks at Hamvention for AREDN.
Essentially, you set the node into AP mode, DTD it to another node for access into your local mesh network (or use a dual band device like a hAP Lite). You then have the smartphones associate with that node AP and then have an app on the smartphone do the telephony work. There's a number of them out there, but these days, my choice is called "GS Wave", put out by GrandStream, the same people who make hard phones. It's free and available for both Android and Apple. Oh, and it's also a 6 line device.
With the app running, you can use it to direct ip dial other hard phones and/or to be an extension on a pbx somewhere. For some unknown reason, I have been unable to direct ip dial other smartphones. If you are interested in the setup for GS Wave to do direct ip dialing, my presentation is in the AREDN Archives section called "Hamvention 2019 GS-Wave Direct IP Calling ". It may be a little dated by now (e.g. screen layout of the various app config pages), but it should still work.
If you need to speak to me, you call me by direct ip dial at 10.73.73.66 over your mesh network
73, Mark