At Stellar, our engineers work at the intersection of telecommunications, networking, and software development. Beyond developing Stellar's own technology, they are actively involved in the open-source community, sharing their expertise, and helping contributors build better software while strengthening the tools we all rely on.

This summer, two members of the Stellar engineering team are mentoring contributors through Google Summer of Code, a global program that pairs experienced developers with new open-source contributors. As Stellar has grown, our engineers have gained deep, practical knowledge from deploying solutions in real-world network environments. That experience makes them well positioned to guide projects that benefit Stellar, OpenWISP, and the broader community.

Making Firmware Management Faster and More Reliable

Senior Software Engineer Alexandre Vincent mentored the project for automatic extraction of OpenWrt firmware image metadata. Until now, administrators often had to manually enter firmware details such as version, architecture, board, and supported devices when uploading images to OpenWISP. As deployments grow, that process becomes time-consuming and prone to mistakes.

This new functionality automatically extracts metadata directly from the firmware image, validates uploads, and matches firmware with compatible devices. The result is simpler firmware management, fewer manual steps, and a smoother upgrade process for both engineering teams and customers.

Expanding Flexibility in Network Monitoring

Stellar's Software Architect and Software Development Director mentored a project adding support for additional time-series databases in OpenWISP Monitoring. OpenWISP has traditionally relied on InfluxDB 1.8 for storing network performance data such as uptime, latency, traffic, and CPU usage. This project adds support for InfluxDB 2 while maintaining the same monitoring experience across the platform.

Although largely behind the scenes, the improvement gives users more flexibility in how monitoring data is stored and managed while keeping OpenWISP compatible with evolving infrastructure. For Stellar, robust monitoring supports the remote management of deployed GLOBBLE® routers, improves visibility across growing fleets, and helps streamline operations for both our engineers and customers.

Why Google Summer of Code Matters

Google Summer of Code gives contributors the opportunity to work on real software, receive code reviews, and experience collaborative open-source development firsthand. Mentoring is equally valuable, encouraging experienced engineers to share their knowledge, challenge their assumptions, and learn from new perspectives.

For Stellar, participating is a natural extension of our commitment to the open-source community. By sharing experience gained through real-world deployments, we help improve software that benefits not only our customers but the wider ecosystem.

The progress from this year's projects is available in the OpenWISP 2026 midterm report which you can find here.

Finally, a sincere thank you to the entire OpenWISP team, especially Federico Capoano, OpenWISP Lead Maintainer, for fostering a community where contributors can learn, mentors can share their expertise, and open-source software continues to evolve.

About Stellar

Stellar’s mission is to bring resilient connectivity across networks to mobility, enterprise, and governments, by combining the very best of terrestrial and satellite networks into one unbreakable connectivity solution.

Stellar Telecommunications SAS ("Stellar"), was founded in 2021 as a truly European company: headquartered in Bordeaux, France, it also runs critical activities from Luxembourg via its subsidiary Stellar Telecommunications Sarl.

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