OneLab added Wi-Fi drivers to the PlanetLab software as part of OneLab1 (the first phase of the project). Now in OneLab2, the PLE operations team is deploying PlanetLab nodes that make use of this capability. So far, three such nodes have been deployed on the PLE testbed. For each one, at least one of its connections to the internet passes through a Wi-Fi interface.

In this way, researchers using the PLE testbed can run experiments using applications that communicate over wireless links, which was not previously possible.

The rolling-out of this technology is part of a process of taking the mature aspects of what we developed and deploying them in PlanetLab Europe to make them available to users. This is a first step towards a much more ambitious deployment of wireless, which is currently under development.

Three Dummynet boxes have also been added to the testbed, one located at UPMC, the other two at the University of Pisa. A Dummynet box sits on the link between a PlanetLab node and the internet. It can be configured to intercept part of the traffic and apply bandwidth and queue size limitations, and simulate delays and losses.

Thus, with Dummynet, researchers can configure the link to provide losses and delays that match a number of different wireless link profiles. The Dummynet extensions for PlanetLab are also a product of OneLab1, carried out by Luigi Rizzo and his team at the University of Pisa. 

For those registered with PlanetLab Europe:

Information on Wi-Fi nodes