AREDN 2026 update from Orv
W6BI:
Changes from
11/1/2025
Total Nodes: 2113.
Over the last few months nodes visible to the mapper
have bounced around a lot.
They dropped from about 2800 in the spring of last year
to a low of around 2,000 in November, but have started
to rise again.
This volatility is probably due to the migration of
nodes from OLSR-only to Babel+OLSR to (in some places)
Babel-only.
XM nodes (devices with only 32MB of RAM, and
thus not capable of running the Babel routing protocol)
visible to the mapper have dropped to almost zero.
Part of this is probably retirement of these old
hardwares, but also due to the fact that almost 40% of
the supernodes
have migrated to Babel-only software and thus OLSR-only
nodes behind them aren't propagating.
Babel-enabled nodes: 2064 - up from 1973 in early
November.
% Babel-enabled - 98% - same as in November (the
percentage is the same because the total node count has
also risen)
Babel-only nodes: 614 (29%) - up from 363 in November
NOTES:
- If
you've got nodes on 3.25.2.0 or earlier, it's
recommended that you get them updated so they're
visible again to the mapper and to the greater
network.
- The
next production release is anticipated to be later in
January and will probably be 4.26.1.0. The '4'
indicates a protocol change and that's due to OLSR
being dropped from the software. If nodes in your
local network are running 3.25.5.0 or higher, updating
to the 4.26.1.0 firmware will most likely be a
non-event (except for maybe improved network
stability).
73
The AREDN Team