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freifunk-gluon / gluon

a modular framework for creating OpenWrt-based firmwares for wireless mesh nodes
https://gluon.readthedocs.io
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add support for triple radio configurations #1661

Open blocktrron opened 5 years ago

blocktrron commented 5 years ago

Currently, when using a device with three radios, Gluon does not create client and mesh VAPs on the third radio.

With the emerge of triband devices, Gluon should support the third radio and maybe bring it up in a sensible configuration. I propose inn case of two 5GHz radios:

With the outdoor mode deactivated, the mesh radio should be deactivated. This is due to most triband devices have a limited range of selectable channels for each radio.

I don't consider this issue as urgent. The only device currently affected is the OpenMesh A62 which shouldn't be very common.

Personally i ran into this very problem when testing an AVM Repeater 3000 with Gluon.

Djfe commented 1 year ago

List of Hardware that would profit from this (most of them have Openwrt support, Fritz!Repeater 6000 and Fritz!Box 4060 are ipq8074-based and can be added to openwrt):

This wasn't done to raise any urgency but just to raise awareness which kind of devices this affects. Even if it takes another year, I don't care too much since there are other devices than these available that we can recommend. But a mesh network being assigned to it's own radio sounds very appealing to me. I'm looking forward to testing whatever comes out of this :)

EDIT: some devices exist that don't offer a third radio for the intention of meshing but monitoring (WIDS/WIPS) or connecting IoT devices to the internet. The Xiaomi AX3600 has a second 5GHz radio 1x1 for connecting to IoT devices (probably can't be configured with stock rom at all and IoT stuff can auto connect to it) The Meraki MR33 is a quadradio device, it offers a second set of 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios for Wireless intrusion detection/prevention system (WIDS/WIPS)

Why am I mentioning this? If there is a way to detect mimo capabilities as well, then gluon should prefer the radio offering the correct set of channels while having the most antennas. And it could be discussed whether using the second radio in a device like the xiaomi is worth it and whether it should be used for meshing or clients or maybe the private network or whatever ^^. A second PR could offer dynamic settings like these #2688 for mapping wifi networks to radios in addition to the defaults defined in the first PR.