Wi-Fi Mesh Deployment Using Blimps

A Synopsis submitted

By

Abhishrey Singh Rawat (160103016)

Vaibhav Dwivedi (160103016)

Anshuman Singh (160103024)

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Kuldeep Choudhary

Assistant Professor

Department of EECE

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of

 BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

In

Electronics and Communication Engineering,

DIT UNIVERSITY,DEHRADUN

(State Private University through State Legislature Act No.10 of 2013 of Uttarakhand and approved by UGC)

Mussoorie Diversion Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand-248009,India.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work titled “Wi-Fi Mesh Deployment Using Blimp”
proposed by Abhishrey Singh Rawat, Vaibhav Dwivedi and Anshuman Singh in
partial fulfillment for the award of degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics
and Communication Engineering of DIT UNIVERSITY, Dehradun is being carried
out under my supervision.
Signature of Supervisor

Name of Supervisor - Dr. Kuldeep Choudhary

Designation - Assistant Professor

ABSTRACT

In this project we propose/or we want to deploy a Wifi based mesh network using
helium blimps. All the network routing and control of blimp is taken care by
Raspberry pi 3b+ or Orange pi. The blimp will include a GPS unit to report it’s
location also the mobility of the blimp for its movement is controlled by
omnidirectional propellers.

Why are we doing this project? Because, literally around half the world still doesn’t
have access about internet and at many places it’s not possible to give internet access
through wire or fibre at any remote location due to many concurrent factors.

Features:Blimp Automation(specific GPS radius with respect to field), Signal

Analysis, GSM module based parameter count: Serving Cell, RSRP, SNR, RSSI,
RSSNR, Signal Strength Mapping & Automated Channel Switching. Doesn’t need
constant power for maintaining it’s altitude; Can be deployed from anywhere;
Infrastructure-less; Can be deployed in a same location in a large no. To increase
coverage area of network.

Limitations:Altitude Control; Wind speed; Power Supply; Act of God.

 Table of Contents

Certificate………………………………………………………………………2

Abstract………………………………………………………………………...3

List of figures…………………………………………………………………..5

Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………6

1.1 Wi-Fi Network

1.2 Mesh Topology

1.3 Blimp

1.4 Blimp Structure Constituents

1.5 Technology used

1.6 Feasibility study

Chapter 2 Design Description and Methodology……………………………...8

2.1 Hardware Requirement

2.2 Software Requirement

Chapter 3 Inovativeness and Future of Project……………………………….11

Chapter 4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………12
References…………………………………………………………………….14

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

1.1 Wi-Fi Network

Wi-Fi is a popular wireless networking technology. Wi-Fi stands for “wireless

fidelity”. The Wi-Fi was invented by NCR corporation/AT&T in Netherlands in 1991.
By using this technology we can exchange the information between two or more
devices. Wi-Fi has been developed for mobile computing devices, such has laptops,
etc. There should be two possibilities in communicating with the Wi-Fi connection
that may be through access point to the client connection or client to client
connection. It is commonly called as wireless LAN (local area network). Wi-Fi allows
local area networks to operate without cable and wiring. It is making popular choice
for home and business networks. A computer’s wireless adaptor transfers the data into
a radio signal and transfers the data into antenna for users.

1.2 Mesh Topology

Mesh Wi-Fi or Whole Home Wi-Fi systems consists of a main router that connects
directly to your modem, and a series of satellite modules, or nodes, placed around
your house for full Wi-Fi coverage. They are all part of a single wireless network and
share the same SSID and password, unlike traditional Wi-Fi routers.

The name “mesh network” itself implies that every component of your Wi-Fi system
is working together, and seamless roaming is a perfect example of that. When you use
a router and range extender combination, you have to switch between the networks
manually as you move from one coverage zone to the other. But with seamless
roaming, you only have one network with one name and password—that means that
as you move about your home, you’ll never have to manually switch from one
network to the other. So go ahead, stream video in the living, kitchen, or bedroom
without worrying about buffering or a dropped connection.

Figure 1- Internode Connection

1.3 Blimp

A blimp is a kind of airborne vessel that levitates from the pressure of lifting gas. It
has a infrastructure less framework and stays in the sky by floating. The structure is
maintained using the pressure of gasses inside.
Blimps are the most commonly deployed for advertising(example Aerotrain), it uses
helium which is non flammable and safe.

Manufacturers in many different countries have built blimps in many different design
with examples being:

 TC-3 and TC-7, Two US Army Cargo Blimp

 British Army Airship Beta

1.4 Blimp Structure Constituents

BLDC Motors: One main reason is the torque provided by these motors are very high
which is very important to gain/loose thrust rapidly to take off or land down a drone.

Electronic Speed Controller: The main responsibility of the controller is to energize

the Phase wires of the BLDC motors in an order so that the motor rotates.

1.5 Technology Used

The project will utilize the basics of micro controllers, Wi-Fi node creation using
Linux programming, Arduino IDE with basics of c and c++, basic know how of
networking domain and wireless LAN. Function of gateway and DHCP.

Structurally it’ll use rotors to control blimp altitude to an extent and a framework
which will involve a layout of physical modules involving Raspberry Pi along with
Arduino.

1.6 Feasibility Study

The Project is feasible due to the fact that a mesh network is more reliable than
repeaters and are cost effective. Also, because of large wireless coverage area thereby,
reducing cost of purchase of devices like wireless LAN controller, cabling, access
points,etc.

We’re using blimp to deploy the Wi-Fi network because they do not need constant
power to maintain it’s altitude. They can be deployed indoors or where there is less
wind speed which doesn’t disrupt the altitude .They can be used for other purposes
like survelience, cargo carriers, etc. The wireless module is detachable due to which it
can be of whatever function we want it to be.
 CHAPTER 2
Design Description and Methodology

2.1 Hardware Requirement

1. MPU 6050- Accelerometer/Gyroscope: MPU6050 sensor module is complete 6-

axis Motion Tracking Device. It combines 3-axis Gyroscope, 3-axis Accelerometer
and Digital Motion Processor all in small package. Also, it has additional feature of
on-chip Temperature sensor. It has I2C bus interface to communicate with the micro-
controllers.It has Auxiliary I2C bus to communicate with other sensor devices like 3-
axis Magnetometer, Pressure sensor etc. If 3-axis Magnetometer is connected to
auxiliary I2C bus, then MPU6050 can provide complete 9-axis Motion Fusion output.

2. Arduino Uno: The Arduino Uno is a micro-controller board based on the

ATmega328. It has 20 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM
outputs and 6 can be used as analog inputs), a 16 MHz resonator, a USB connection, a
power jack, an in-circuit system programming (ICSP) header, and a reset button. It
contains everything needed to support the micro-controller; simply connect it to a
computer (or appropriate wall power adapter) with a USB cable or power it with
a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.
3. ESC:The term ESC stands for an “electronic speed control is an electronic
circuit used to change the speed of an electric motor, its route and also to perform as a
dynamic brake. These are frequently used on radio controlled models which are
electrically powered, with the change most frequently used for brushless motors
basically providing an electronically produced 3-phase electric power low voltage
source of energy for the motor. An ESC can be a separate unit which lumps into the
throttle receiver control channel or united into the receiver itself, as is the situation in
most toy-grade R/C vehicles. Some R/C producers that connect exclusive hobbyist
electronics in their entry-level vehicles, containers or aircraft use involved electronics
that combine the two on a sole circuit board.

4. The Raspberry Pi 3:The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ is the latest product in the

Raspberry Pi 3 range, boasting an updated 64-bit quad core processor running
at 1.4GHz with built-in metal heatsink, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless
LAN, faster (300 mbps) Ethernet, and PoE capability via a separate PoE HAT.

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ maintains the same mechanical footprint as both the
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. Adafruit made/brand
cases will still fit but some other cases may not, especially ones that depend on
component location or have a built in a heat-sink.

5. BLDC: A brush-less DC- electric motor also known as electronically as

commutated motor and synchronous DC motors, are synchronous motors powered
by DC electricity via an inverter or switching power supply which produces
an AC electric current to drive each phase of the motor via a closed loop controller.
The controller provides pulses of current to the motor windings that control
the speed and torque of the motor.

The advantages of a brushless motor over brushed motors are high power to weight
ratio, high speed, and electronic control. Brushless motors find applications in such
places as computer peripherals (disk drives, printers), hand-held power tools, and
vehicles ranging from model aircraft to automobiles.

2.2 Software Requirement

1. SMesh is a seamless wireless mesh network being developed by the Distributed

System and Networks Lab at Johns Hopkins University. It provides peer-to-peer
connectivity, Internet connectivity, and fast handoff to mobile clients across the mesh.
Clients get connected automatically through standard DHCP. No software or drivers
need to be installed on the mobile devices. SMesh takes care of providing end-to-end
connectivity transparently for the clients.

2. CoovaChilli is an open-source software access controller for captive portal (UAM)

and 802.1X access provisioning, based on the popular (but now defunct) ChilliSpot
project, and is actively maintained by an original ChilliSpot contributor. CoovaChilli
is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

3. Babel is a loop-avoiding distance-vector routing protocol for IPv6 and IPv4 with
fast convergence properties. It is based on the ideas in DSDV, AODV and
Cisco's EIGRP, but is designed to work well not only in wired networks but also in
wireless mesh networks, and has been extended with support for overlay networks.
Babel is in the process of becoming an IETF Standard.
 CHAPTER 3

Inovativeness and Future of Project

Blimp Automation(specific GPS radius with respect to field), Signal Analysis, GSM
module based parameter count: Serving Cell, RSRP, SNR, RSSI, RSSNR, Signal
Strength Mapping & Automated Channel Switching. Doesn’t need constant power for
maintaining it’s altitude; Can be deployed from anywhere; Infrastructure-less; Can be
deployed in a same location in a large number.To increase coverage area of network.

Picture this: You’ve just set up your home network with the latest Wi-Fi hardware and
a 100 Mbps Internet connection. But for some reason, you still encounter buffering
when you try to stream video in the bedroom. You called your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) and everything checks out, so what’s the deal? Chances are, your Wi-
Fi isn’t set up efficiently for a mesh Wi-Fi system. Now, using this setup such a
problem will be eliminated with ease.
CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION
References & Bibliography
 Establishing a local mesh network between two Raspberry Pi’s.
 Installing Linux on Raspberry Pi’s(Node Creation).
 To study their range and operations.
 Micro controller programming and simulation.
 Calibration of rotors.
 Calculation of weight by lift ratio of Blimp
 Placement of network components on blimp’s base and rotors for effective
framework.
 Testing