So, I’ve somewhat explained Reticulum as a concept. Now it’s time to realize some of the applications that the concept can be applied to. Meshtastic has been an experiment in ‘off-grid’ texting for us that has had some mixed results. Those mixed results have been basically because of distance, limitations of 900 MHz, trees, buildings, etc. all getting in the way of reliable communications to build the mesh network that is Meshtastic. While Meshtastic utilizes mesh networking concepts, it is somewhat limited by the short sighted application of true mesh networking, and the addressing (of devices) that it utilizes.
In both of my previous write ups, I explained that with Reticulum each device has its own unique address that is hashed (added up and distributed) to that device, and anywhere that device goes, as long as it is attached to a Reticulum network that is capable of reaching the Reticulum network that the device you are targeting is on, reaching other nodes is much easier, cleaner, and guaranteed.
One of the cons of Meshtastic is the acknowledgement, or lack of acknowledgement, that one receives when targeting another known device directly. Other nodes on Meshtastic (and Meshcore) simply hand the packets of information off and acknowledge that they’ve received and sent the packets, not that the packets reached their intended destination. This can and does cause confusion as to whether a message made it through the mesh to the target or not. It says ‘Acknowledged,’ right? Right. But only in so much that there were other nodes that heard and passed the traffic, not that it got where it is going.
With that said, there are applications that have Reticulum built directly into them that can be used, and so far, the only devices that aren’t covered are iPhones. Bummer in my case, but not so bad considering that one doesn’t have to pay for cellular service to use Reticulum, so a spare Android phone was offered to me by WV4AS, and I accepted it. I then got to playing with the programs, and utilizing Reticulum. So far, it has been a good experience. Where it will be challenging is setting up the interfaces (LoRa radios, a router, or whatever we decide to use between point to point or house to house). That part is only challenging if you don’t understand the interfaces, and that’s fine, because some of us do understand it.
Let’s talk about our Allstar network for a second, as it can help paint the picture for interfacing. We use Raspberry Pi computers to run the Allstar software. Those Raspberry Pis are connected to the internet through our home networks. They are also connected to a USB interface that allows the Raspberry Pi to talk to our radios and broadcast to us the traffic that is coming through our Allstar system. This concept is exactly the same concept that we will apply to using Reticulum.
We can take our devices, be them laptops, Android phones (hopefully iPhones soon), Raspberry Pis, etc. and connect them to an interface that is similar to what our Allstar nodes use. The LoRa radios that I have programmed us all Meshtastic nodes on can run firmware that allows them to be connected to by either BLE (Bluetooth), or USB and act as our transmission interface between ‘nodes’ utilizing Reticulum. The difference between using the LoRa radios for Meshtastic and using them for Reticulum is that the protocol that was designed for LoRa usage is not followed by the makers of Reticulum. What that means is, the makers of Reticulum are not limiting the broadcast time, bandwidth, and other technical details of the transmissions to fit the original intentions of the LoRa design, which was meant to keep the transmissions short, sweet, and concise. While Reticulum still makes the transmissions concise, they are not limited to only around 50 KHz bandwidth. Instead, we can get and use up to around 500 KHz, with 250 being realistic with the text applications. So what are the applications you should look for?
Well, it’s complicated, but easy. It is a contradiction, I know. But. Good news is that the applications are all free, easily accessible, and located on GitHub. All of them are open source as well, which means you can use them in any way you see fit. I can guide you through installation on the Android, and most likely will have to set up the devices for interfacing, but there are no limits to how we use them. I’m looking forward to us diving in.
If you’re interested, let me know! Good news is, on my days off, we can make it happen.
Until next time…
73 ~WF4RT
Setting Up MeshChat for TheZoo2RetNet