The answer is, of course, "yes."
Several people have replied with examples specific to wireless. There is no necessary need to be specific.
What you are talking about is simply called "creating a private network" that does not connect to the Internet. It's done all the time, either with wired or wireless, for various reasons -- many corporations want their workers to be able to communicate, share files, etc., but for security and other reasons do not want them to have off-site access.
So, in short, what you asked to do is quite simple and normal and (implementation-wise) has nothing to do with either your earthquake scenario or wireless. Anyone with basic sysadmin knowledge should be able to do it.
Loren Zemenick's response, on the other hand, notes that in such a scenario you may have another problem: most wireless networks are designed to fit over a certain topology, routing data across it a bit like a plumbing system, and wouldn't work too well if a few of their nodes (pipes) were destroyed in an earthquake. Whether you are connecting to the Internet or not, you likely will need a specially designed system to accomplish your goals.
Also, we've designed implementations to work on solar, etc. I don't know of any wireless gear that is extremely low-power, so you may want to note that each node (AP) in your net would likely be fairly expensive -- I'm guessing far upwards of $3,000US for a professional implementation, and WiFi requires very dense APs for penetration (even if you have clearance to go over 1W radio emissions, which I assume you can get for an emergency application). Depending on your bandwidth needs, there are several other technologies which would probably be much cheaper to implement, especially if what you want is "drop it on top of an emergency" deployment, instead of "in place in case anything happens." (In the latter case, I suspect the cost of WiFi is just too high, unless the network is used for other purposes but can be switched to "emergency" mode, which if you can design it would be quite a selling point to metros considering the technology).
You should consider that there are several major metro WiFi installations and that this will likely grow -- for instance, WiFi is a very cheap medium for the transmission of video in these "security-conscious" days in the States. For instance, many parts of Sacramento, CA, has a private WiFi network used for police purposes, and if you are serious about implementing you may wish to speak to the group that did it and consider the cost (multi-tens-of-millions, even when not considering subsidies by Enterasys). Particularly, the group is expert in transmission through trees, refracting over rooftops, etc with 4W transmissions, and has designed a lot of gear that would be useful to your project.
Finally, I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to connect such a network to the Internet, at least in a limited fashion. Surely such workers would want to communicate with outside authorities, agencies, etc; it might be useful for them to have google to search, in case they need quick information about a specific topic; etc.
Yours,
John
At 11:20 AM 7/7/2003 +0000, you wrote:
Hello,
I am working on a WiFi solution for earthquake response and was wondering if someone here could answer a questions for me. I�m a bit of a WiFi newbie to please be gentle.
Is it possible to setup a self-contained WiFi site with no outside connectivity. No backhaul. Just a completely wire free LAN within the area lit by the APs. The scenario would be a grid of APs (solar, generator, or battery powered) dispersed throughout a disaster with rescuers carrying notebooks/PDAs communicating (VOIP, IM, email) with one another.
Thank you, Douglass Turner
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