Wireless repeater

The discussion of manufacturing a standalone Wireless Marvell 88W8388 mesh repeater in a sealed, weather-proof case should be raised. Re-use of the Marvell 88W8388 volume purchase should make this very affordable.

This would be a simple mesh repeater. A minimum board would be just the Wireless Marvell chip (with required support), antenna connectors, and power-in. This can be mounted in tree, solitary pole, roof top or suitable location. It's open access and always on.

On the repeater's external hardware:

• Antenna: Directional or Omni-directional based on that repeater's intent (Range extension or Point of Presence) and affordability.
• Power: If not able to tap electrical lines, a rechargeable battery storage could be supplied by solar, wind, mechanical charging or other suggested means of Battery_and_power.

Given the price point of the OLPC, it doesn't seem effective to them standing alone in the field (or sending children out) to act as repeaters if a village is trying to maintain a persistent internet connection - even if during just school hours.

Marvell publishes their own universal repeater reference designs. However most do not, which is a cause of concern for a lot of consumers of various wifi repeaters and wireless range extenders

Note that if this can be done with a single Marvell chipset then an OLPC laptop should be capable of being converted to a repeater.