veyepar: The Serval Project presents Rhizome - Self Replicating Software and Data Distribution in Resilient Mesh Networks

Author(s):	Corey Wallis,Jeremy Lakeman
Location	Studio
Date	jan Wed 18	Days Raw Files
Start	15:40	First Raw Start	error-in-template
Duration	0:50:00	Offset	None
End	16:30	Last Raw End
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http://lca2012.linux.org.au/schedule/123/view_talk
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The Serval Project has as a core tenet the concept that Communication is a Human Right. The project is focused on the development of open source software that uses mobile devices to create a resilient mesh network. The network is designed to support communication tools that are infrastructure independent, while integrating with existing infrastructure where possible. This means we can provide communication capabilities where it may not be possible otherwise.

The need to be infrastructure independent means we run into issues such as : how do we install the software at times of need without supporting infrastructure. the solution we have come up with is Rhizome.

Some of you are already going - why Rhizome as a name? Well, besides the fact it is desperately hard to come up with an original recursive name nowadays, we wanted something that would reflect how it works. It is almost viral in nature  but we thought calling it Virus was probably not going to make it all that popular. So we went fungal instead. 
Rhizome comes from an Ancient Greek word that means ‘mass of roots’. In botanical terms, it is the horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, sending out shoots &amp; roots from nodes. The technology that forms the basis of Rhizome in the Serval Project Software serves a similar purpose for the resilient mesh network. Hence the strange name!

Each mobile device that has the Serval Project mesh software installed on it can, using Rhizome, offer the software wirelessly to another device. This is known as the donor device. A second device, known as the recipient, can connect to the donor device wirelessly and download a copy of the installation package. Multiple devices can copy the  software at a time. Once copied the user can follow the directions displayed on the donor device to install and configure the software on the recipient device.

In this way one device becomes two, two devices become four and so on. A relatively small network, even one that starts from a single device, can grow and support a large number of users without the need for a centralised software distribution server or other infrastructure. In future releases the Rhizome technology will support the distribution of other data and files once the device is part of the network.

The resilience of a mesh network is directly proportional to the number of nodes on the network. The more nodes on the network, the more resilient the network becomes. The challenge therefore is to distribute the Serval Project software to new devices in such a way that doesn’t rely on existing infrastructure, or on access to any single node on the network.

This presentation will outline some of the challenges in developing this technology, the lessons learned in developing Android based software as well as explore future directions and capabilities of the technology. Lastly the use case of Rhizome as part of the Serval Field Communications Kit for disaster response will be explored.

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