Ontology-driven framework for community networking management

Wireless technologies present many benefits when used to deploy metropolitan networks. Resilience, cost, adaptability and self-organization are some of the benefits provided by Wireless Networks. Especially when mesh technologies are used, wireless networks are adequate for the deployment of (user-centric) community networks. The increased participation of users and the social relations existing among them makes desirable the merging of the mesh and social aspect of these networks. If proper interfaces are deployed, users are able to map existing (or to be developed) social structures such as communities into the mesh network. This paper focuses on the problem of creating a community driven mesh network, and in the representation and maintenance of user relations, trust and functional parameters. We present a novel ontology designed for the management of such environments.