[guardian-dev] GilgaMesh (was Re: FireChat moved off iOS proprietary mesh to their own xp mesh protocol?)

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> 
> 
> Nathan of Guardian wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 3, 2014, at 11:43 AM, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>>> Before diving too deep into implementing more on this discovery hack, I
>>> think
>>> the important question to ask is what we would actually do with a low
>>> bandwidth, broadcast-only transport mechanism.  Its not clear to me how
>>> it
>>> would be used beyond just a open chat room in the local area.
>>
>> Ultimately, what this is, is Twitter over Bluetooth Discovery, powered
>> by humans in large open public spaces. Broadcast is the breakthrough,
>> and that is what Bluetooth RFComm/Sockets etc has been missing. By
>> supporting things like auto-retweeting of trusted/paired devices, we can
>> extend the range to a huge area. Please read my latest post if you
>> haven't already, as it specifically addresses the perceived limitation
>> of this:
>> http://openideals.com/2014/10/03/extending-the-humantechnical-range-of-the-gilgamesh/
>>
>> Multipeer Connectivity and the like are all designed to be used in a
>> fairly static physical space, like a living room, to connect your phone
>> to your TV to your iPad, and that is about it. While technically it
>> seems like the way to go, I have real concerns it can work in a noisy
>> RF, crowded public space, especially with strangers. I definitely see
>> how it can be great for small groups and gathering to link up, but
>> ultimately you are limited to a handful of connections AFAIK.
>>
>> Ultimately, we have gone down the road of doing mesh the "proper" way,
>> and I am very satisfied right now exploring the improper (but viable!)
>> way.
>>
>> +n
> 
> I see, "giglamesh" refers to this kind of mesh twitter app, I was thinking you
> were using that name for the technique of transmitting data using the
> bluetooth broadcast. I've been thinking in terms of how to leverage that trick
> for the kinds of data transfer we've done in Courier/Paik and Fdroid.
> 
> .hc

I think worth noting: the radio interference problems will apply just the same
to data transfer via the bluetooth discovery mode, the WiFi SSID, or the data
transfer packets of wifi and bluetooth. They are all the same radio waves in
the same band radiating at the same power.  My guess is that the discovery
mode broadcasts will actually be less wary of other radio activity since it is
not meant to be a regular, constant activity.  With wifi at least, there is
stuff in there to help prevent data transfer packets from being transmitted at
the same time, coordinated by the Access Point.

.hc

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