[wsfii-discuss] CUWiN/UIUC Partnership Awarded $500, 000 NSF Grant To Develop High-Performance Open Source Mesh Wireless Technologies.

Thu Jul 20 19:12:12 UTC 2006

How great Sascha !  :-)

Also a big congratulations from DIIRWB-staff on Djursland. This award will 
mean a great turning point and opening of opportunities in bridging the 
digital divide to the benefit of the poor people of the the World.

I have signed for your monthly newsletter :-)

With Smiles  :-)
Yours Sincerely
Bjarke

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sascha Meinrath" <sascha at ucimc.org>
To: <wsfii-discuss at lists.okfn.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 3:46 PM
Subject: [wsfii-discuss] CUWiN/UIUC Partnership Awarded $500, 000 NSF Grant 
To Develop High-Performance Open Source Mesh Wireless Technologies.

Hi all,

Thought this would interest folks...

--Sascha

***

July 20, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Sascha Meinrath, CUWiN Executive Director
217-278-3933 x30 sascha at cuwireless.net

Ross Musselman, CUWiN Outreach Coordinator
217-278-3933 x31 rgmussel at cuwireless.net

***

CUWiN/UIUC PARTNERSHIP AWARDED $500,000 NSF GRANT TO DEVELOP NEXT GENERATION
OPEN SOURCE MESH WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign partners with CUWiN to build
high-performance, robust open source wireless mesh networking technologies.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $500,000 in grant funding 
to
support a research and development partnership between the Champaign-Urbana
Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) and the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).  This initiative, "Toward building a
Performance-Predictable Wireless Mesh Network", focuses on the development 
of
wireless routing protocols, network testing systems, and gateway discovery 
in
open-source technology.  The grant, part of the Network Technology and 
Systems
Program of the NSF, provides support over a three-year period.

"CUWiN is building the next generation of mesh wireless technologies.  Most
importantly, CUWiN is releasing our software under an open source license --
allowing communities, municipalities, organizations, and individuals around 
the
world to deploy low-cost alternatives to current proprietary systems." 
stated
Sascha Meinrath, CUWiN Executive Director.

Community and municipal wireless networks have gained tremendous attention 
in
recent years. The ultimate objective of this CUWiN/UIUC partnership is to
incorporate research results and system prototypes into production code to 
be
widely distributed by CUWiN. With the help of CUWiN, the research to be 
carried
out by UIUC researchers will make a real impact and effect high-throughput,
cost-effective broadband access both for the U.S. and worldwide.

"I am extremely pleased with the fact that NSF recognizes the importance of
carrying out research on a real multi-hop wireless network. CUWiN provides 
us
with a city-wide research testbed to understand how, and to what extent,
wireless links are affected by PHY/MAC attributes and other environmental
factors.  All the measurements we make on CUWiN will help characterize the
behavior of wireless links and identify control 'knobs' in the MAC/PHY 
layers
with which the network capacity can be optimized." Principal Investigator,
Jennifer Hou, stated.

CUWiN's mission is to help bridge the digital divide by developing low-cost,
open source, wireless technologies and making them available to community 
and
municipal networks around the world. CUWiN networks have been established in
urban settings like Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., as well as 
rural
places like the Mesa Grande Indian Reservation near San Diego, California,
and Apirede, Ghana.  CUWiN continues to expand its development testbed in
Urbana, Illinois in partnership with the City of Urbana and the University 
of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

"The wireless technologies being developed by CUWiN as a part of this 
initiative
hearken back to the innovation and vibrancy of early Internet development."
stated Ross Musselman, CUWiN Outreach Coordinator. "With a focus on 
maintaining
Internet freedom, these new technologies support digital inclusion around 
the
globe."

For more information on this initiative, contact the CUWiN team at:
E-mail: cu-wireless-support at cuwireless.net
Phone: +1 217 278-3933 x31.

Sign up for the once-a-month CUWiN e-mail news list at:

http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/cu-wireless-announce

-- 
Sascha Meinrath
Policy Analyst    *  Project Coordinator  *  President
Free Press       *** CUWiN               *** Acorn Active Media
www.freepress.net *  www.cuwireless.net   *  www.acornactivemedia.com

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