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WiMesh: An IoT Based Secure and Resilient Disaster Communication System

Welcome to the WiMesh Wiki developed by the Network Research Team at Air University, Pakistan. The Network Research Lab was led by Dr. Usman Ashraf, and develops research projects in a broad range of topics in network communications including mesh networks and architectures, modeling and analysis, wireless networks, sensor networks, car-to-car networks, peer-to peer techniques and network measurement. We focus on the use of modeling and analytical techniques to study challenging problems.

WiMesh: A Secure and Resilient Disaster Communication System

Pakistan is a disaster-prone area and has suffered a number of natural calamities which have wreaked havoc and created countless problems. In such disasters, the existing communication cellular and PSTN infrastructure often becomes damaged, making communication very difficult if not altogether impossible. The rescue and rehabilitation teams also face immense problems due to lack of a communication system. Moreover, in some remote areas there is no existing power grid or communication infrastructure, which makes communication very challenging. The existing solutions of VHF based walkie-talkies have the problem that it has significantly limited range and capabilities. There is no possibility of geographic positioning, sharing multimedia content or multihop audio communication. The motivation of the WiMesh was to propose a system which can assist in communication in not only in post-disaster scenarios, but also offer a proactive solution where an autonomous wireless mesh network can help mitigate the damage during the disaster as well. The proposed system works independent of any PSTN or cellular infrastructure and despite the lack of any power grid.

The WiMesh system was developed as part of the National ICTR&D grant (13.6 million) for developing a secure, and resilient disaster communication system for Emergency Response in under-developed and remote areas of Pakistan. The project was successfully completed deployed at Several Locations throughout the country.

                                                                                   WiMesh Architecture

WiMesh Server

The WiMesh server is one of the most important part of the WiMesh system as it handles communication among clients as well as the overall system including the mesh backhaul network. The Server hosts the opensource OpenSIPs server and the Application Server. The application server is based on the Asynchronous Event-Driven Network Application Framework. For multi-threading an innovative approach called Staged Event-Driven Architecture (SEDA) is used which is very efficient. The server handles registration & authentication of users, the relaying of audio calls in both broadcast mode and unicast mode,  and several other features:

§  Multimedia exchange (image, video, data files, SMS) with a client or group of clients

§  Audio (unicast and broadcast modes)

§  Ability to view the geographical position of a specific user or group of users

§  Overall monitoring and control of the system

WiMesh Mesh Backhaul

The WiMesh backhaul comprises of 802.11n equipped multi-radio multi-channel mesh nodes comprising of Ubiquiti Nanostation and PicoStation Nodes. The nodes are equipped with solar panels and batteries. Each mesh node has several wireless devices tuned to different channel. One AP per-node and a dedicated wireless channel is used for the mesh backhaul, while the other devices are used for mesh Access networking to provide connectivity to user nodes. The APs have been re-programmed with open-source OpenWRT embedded Linux. The mesh backhaul uses the Expected Link Performance (ELP) metric for routing which has been integrated into the Optimized Link-State Routing (OLSR) Protocol. The metric ensures resilience against link failures and malicious attacks as well as intermittent connectivity. 

WiMesh Client

The WiMesh client comprises of an Android application that has been designed to be installed on Android mobile phones. It uses the opensource Sipdroid application for VoIP calling, but adds several additional features:

§  Sharing of multimedia content (image, video, data, SMS) between clients, in both one-to-one and one-to-many modes

§  Making audio calls in unicast, and broadcast mode

§  Ability to receive from and send live video stream to other client(s)/control station

§  Ability to view the geographical position of a specific user or group of users 

News

"WiMesh: A Wireless Communication System for Emergency Response" featured in Pakistan National News.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-306351-Air-University-develops--communication-system

http://epaper.pakobserver.net/201503/12/business-1.php

Research group website: http://wimeshlab.com/

Vice Chancellor Air University, Dr. Ijaz A. Malik visits Network Research Lab, in his short visit he congratulated the team on taking different initiatives and establishing lab in a short span of time

First WiMesh field Trials in Ziarat

Dr. Usman meets Mr. Riaz Javeed (GM Cirin Pharma) to discuss key features and deployment of mesh network at Cirin Pharmaceuticals Hattar, Pakistan