
The Serval Mesh  - wglb
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproject
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convivialdingo
I'm impressed, clearly a great deal of work was put into this. Just the tip of
the iceberg here...

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* Every address, also known as a Serval Identity (SID), is a 256-bit public key in the Elliptic Curve crypto system used by the Serval Mesh (app for Android).

* Every node device may have one address (Serval Identity (SID)) or many, which it creates itself using random key generation. The large size of the key space means that the probability of two devices having the same address remains negligible, even if the mesh grows to billions of devices.

* The payload of every MDP packet may be clear text, signed, or encrypted and signed. The encryption key is the public key (address) of the recipient, and the signing key is the private key of the sender.

* MDP is an OSI Level 3 (Network) layer, and may be carried over any wireless or wired data link, whether over a shared medium (eg, CSMA/CA used in Wi-Fi) or a dedicated medium (eg, AX.25 packet radio, serial cable).

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jewel
A problem with this is that wifi range is too limited. It'd be better if part
of the FRS band was repurposed for emergency mesh data connections, with
support baked into the cellphones themselves. The throughput wouldn't be
stellar, but that doesn't matter if you're only sending text messages or other
small messages (such as GPS coordinates).

Perhaps that wouldn't matter in an urban environment, if uptake is high
enough, or if someone puts in solar-powered repeaters to span large gaps.

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cheetahtech
Was with a advanced DoD company who was using this app to push the boundaries
in the field for communications without walkie talkies or sat phones. The app
worked extremely well and we were happy to win a contract based on what this
app did for us and we built up from there.

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secfirstmd
Maybe throw a few coins or lines of code to the Serval guys then? They are a
great team and have done some great work.

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pdx
I don't like that this needs your phone to be rooted. That is going to keep it
from ever becoming ubiquitous.

The solution?

I don't know, but I suspect that Wi-Fi Direct, which both apple and android
now support, would enable complete functionality without rooting.

Can the author comment on why they are not using Wi-Fi Direct? Is it because
older phones do not support it? If so, perhaps let it support either rooting
or Wi-Fi Direct.

I'm a techie, and I don't want to root my phone, and definitely not my wife's
phones, just so I can play with this. If I won't, a lot of other people,
especially non techies, won't either. You need the non-techies to get critical
mass.

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tantalor
For those curious where to find the iPhone version,

[http://developer.servalproject.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=cont...](http://developer.servalproject.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=content:tech:serval_mesh_for_iphone)

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habosa
This is an incredible engineering feat, I've developed on Android so I really
appreciate the amount of work this likely took.

The only unfortunate thing is the design, it's not a pretty app and it
deserves a design as well-thought as the backend. I'm not a great designer but
if it was open source I'd contribute to a design refactor. OP if you made the
app I'm happy to help.

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RustyRussell
... "if it was open source" ? I assumed it was, and indeed from the page:

Our software is : * Completely open and open-source; free for all

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buzaga41
This is incredibly awesome, it deserves more upvotes

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orjan
This sounds a lot like what TerraNet
([http://www.terranet.se](http://www.terranet.se)) are doing.

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antirez
This saved my cruiser a few months ago...

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mbubb
Don't understand. What does this refer to?

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antirez
Sorry I was not clear enough. Projects like Serval Mesh not only are useful
when something bad happens in the communication system, but also when
companies, like cruiser companies, want to stop you from communicating with a
reasonable price. So if a family of N members want to communicate using phones
inside of a cruiser, the phones will all connect to the GSM cell in the ship
itself, that costs like _a lot_ of money per minute in roaming fees. However
there is a wifi network in the ship (also super costly) that Serval Mesh is
able to use in order to let your family communicate free of charge (you don't
need to really access the internet service provided via wifi, just to connect
to the open/free internal wifi network).

