Anyone have a WAP installed in their vehicle?

**schapman43** · 12-20-2004, 06:33 AM

Does anyone have a Wireless Access Point installed in their vehicle. It would be cool when traveling in multiple vehicles. You could do instant messaging and video conferencing. It would also be cool at Carputer meets. Setup a network for file sharing etc.

**traitorhound** · 12-20-2004, 06:53 AM

coldn't you just use an ad-hoc network and do the same thing without an AP? unless im totally mis-informed here

**JC-S60** · 12-20-2004, 07:21 AM

Yep you could.

You can also use a wireless nic in a computer as an ap, just don't know if windows can do it...

**schapman43** · 12-20-2004, 08:08 AM

Either way it would be pretty cool. Network on wheels.

**NOS TANG** · 12-22-2004, 06:56 AM

I have a AP and 1 watt amp ready to bolt in, just waiting on the antenna.

traitorhound is correct that adhoc mode will work fine in most cases but you still would want a decent external antenna for the added range.

My goal is to have two wi-fi links onboard along with my current 1xRtt cellular modem in the car. The first wi-fi card is pluged into the PC for outbound communications to hotspots or the house. The second wi-fi, a linksys AP will be for inbound communications to the car and will route traffic via Ethernet cable to the PC and then out over the other wi-fi or cellular link to the internet. This adds a extra point of security and will allow me to use the car as a repeater or mobile hotspot. I also plan to hook up the car alarm to the PC so I can signal the ITPS using the key fob and fire up the PC when the car parked.

Only problem I found so far is having to block the wi-fi card in the pc from connecting to the AP in the trunk and then hope they don't operate in the same frequency at the same time.

NOS

**Draxin** · 12-25-2004, 07:42 AM

set them to different chanels

ie ap @ ch 1
WiFi Card @ ch 11

that would take care of the ferquency issues your worried about.
as for keeping the WiFi card from connecting to the AP set up a ACL (access control list) that has one entry that denies the MAC address of your WiFi Card from connectong and that should take care of your problem.

and the AP can handel both incoming and out going traffic, no real need to have the AP and the wifi card

**NOS TANG** · 12-27-2004, 01:15 AM

Draxin, that's pretty much what I laid out so far, but you mention one thing I don't agree on. The AP can't route as a repeater, in other words it won't connect to another Access Point and allow incoming connections at the same time. Some of the new meshing style units I have seen like "Tropos" can do this, but an old linksys won't. You would still need 2 AP's connected by Ethernet to create that kinda setup, and in separated freq also.

Another problem is the wi-fi card or SU "subscriber unit" side must conform to the frequency set of the AP it is connected to. Ex: A SU will only talk on what channels the far end AP says to and no others. So in my case I need to manually change the cars onboard AP channel set to avoid this other freq, doing it automatically is my goal to make truly functional. All this is only relevant when you’re pushing a couple Mbps or so of data, under that it makes little difference about collisions so it's mostly for theory testing and the cool factor I'm shooting for.

Cheers,
NOS

**trillion** · 12-27-2004, 01:24 AM

Some colleagues and I are pitching the idea of mesh networks at the State Council in my area to try and get funding for this form of carrier network around the Technology Parks in the city.

Its still all drawing board brainstorming at the moment but we plan to link High Tech work areas along freeway corridors using a wireless meshing systems similar to Locustworld, which have proven to be not only quite scalable but also very cost effective.

**Tred** · 12-28-2004, 03:38 AM

i read somewhere that they plan to implement car to car communication for traffic updates and things. it would be cool if we can make a program for ourselves to connect to another car.

**n8mx** · 01-12-2005, 12:41 PM

I plan to put an old SMC WAP in my truck in the next month or so. I mainly want to use it to transfer data to my carpc from the house. I am also working on a program using a Rabbit TCP/IP board to do remote start from a web page (served by the Rabbit) over the WAP - so I can start the truck or the car pc when I am inside (nice for cold weather!) I also plan to have an Orinoco USB card in the truck for wardriving, with an RF coax relay to switch the two into the antenna (wont need the WAP when driving).