Rhizomatica GSM

Rhizomatica has 16 villages (map) up and running with our own flavor of community-controlled mobile cellular networks. The technical aspects of making this happen was not trivial and this wiki contains information from the general to specific technical details not appropriate for the faint of heart.

You may find the Lexicon to be of use to decode acronymns and jargon.

System Overview

• System Architecture
• Legal and social considerations
• Site selection
• Lightning protection
• Materials for installation
  • Installation checklist
  • Part information
• Setting up the BTS
• Setting up the BSC
• Setting up WIFI links
• Setting up Administration computer
• Tower installation
• Hardware installation

Tools

• Apps
• Testing
• RF Planning

Troubleshooting Information for Admins

• Manual for network admins
• Troubleshooting

Rhizomatica Presentations

• File:Rhizomatica Presentation IS4CWN2013.pdf
• File:GSM introduction.pdf
• File:SIP introduction.pdf
• File:OpenBSC Introduction.pdf
• File:FreeSWITCH introduction.pdf
• File:GSM Software Installation.pdf

Reading

• Osmocom GSM Manuals - git repo of osmo-gsm manuals [1]
• Wireless Networking in the Developing World - good book intro on wireless networking[2]
• Freeswitch - Build robust, high-performance telephony systems using FreeSWITCH [3]
• FreeSWITCH Cookbook - recipes for FreeSWITCH [4]
• Fairwaves BTS Software configuration manual - good small scale GSM overview with specifics [5]
• GSM Architecture, Protocols and Services - good book to understand how GSM works in fuller sense [6]

Similar projects & other items of interest

GSM

• NuRAN Wireles - Canadian hardware company that provides Rhizomatica with most of its BTS' [7]
• Sysmocom - The guys who wrote the bulk of OpenBSC own this company and sell hardware and services [8]
• Endaga - Rural small scale GSM company [9]
• RZ_GSM - A german academic GSM project [10]
• Open BTS - Open source BTS software we used in our first experiments [11]
• SayCel - A community cell network on Little Corn Island, Nicaragua [12]
• Fairwaves - Providers of open, low-cost hardware for small-scale GSM using OpenBSC [13]

Mesh Networking

• Libre Mesh - mesh firmware based on OpenWRT[14]
• Guifi.net - a massively huge spanish mesh network [15]
• Serval Mesh - Android phone mesh networks [16]
• Nodewatcher - mesh planning software from Wlan Slovenija [17]
• Commotion - OTI's open-source tool that uses wireless devices to create decentralized mesh networks [18]

Tabaa from the perspective of a BTS