Bridging the Community Network Gap with FOSS and Mobile ISPs

Community networks intrinsically rely on being able to deploy large scale projects with an explicit focus on cost effectiveness. As such, they often leverage not only open-source software, but also some proprietary solutions which, although closed source, may not command a licence fee. This paper briefly discusses an undergraduate project addressing a hardware solution integrating several open-source software projects into a cohesive structure. The platform, tentatively dubbed as a ldquoMobile ISPrdquo - or mISP is a natural extension on the established Wireless ISP concept with a practical bent towards wire-free deployment and gateway connectivity. In addition it justifies a split micro-architecture approach and depicts further usage schemas for the device afforded by virtue of the extensibility it offers.