Mesh Network

P2P AdHoc Network, typically WireLess, etc.

so that a signal can be passed along to give it greater effective range

• eventually it needs to connect to the real Internet, unless you want to have local-only access to a local server (Resilient Community)
  • in Un Civilization Technology environment, if can't get to outside world, is it more pragmatic to have local Voice support by running an open GSM stack (Open B T S), or to use Skype over Mesh WiFi?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_mesh_network

802.11s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11s

• used by OLPC (even though still a draft)

Life Net is a WiFi-based data communication solution designed for post-disaster scenarios. It is Open Source software and designed to run on consumer devices such as laptops, smart-phones and wireless routers. Life Net is an ad hoc networking platform over which critical software applications including chat, voice messaging, MIS systems, etc. can be easily deployed. Life Net can grow incrementally, is robust to node failures and enables Internet sharing. A novel multi-path ad-hoc routing protocol present at its core, enables Life Net to achieve these features. Works with OpenWRT.

various Open Source routing protocols http://netlixir.typepad.com/3sty/2007/10/open-source-mes.html

Motorola owns the MeshNetworks company. http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php?channel=8&id=93339

Meraki

OpenMesh uses ROBIN in OpenWRT http://www.open-mesh.com

CommotionWireless runs on OpenWRT and Android, for voice and data.

Open Garden supports DeskTop-s, Lap Top-s, and Mobile devices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Garden