[Babel-users] Restarting MeshPoint – seeking advice on routing for crisis/disaster scenarios

[Juliusz Chroboczek]

Hello, Valent, good to hear from you again.

> Between 2015 and 2018 I ran the MeshPoint project – a simple, rugged
> Wi-Fi hotspot designed to work in the toughest conditions.

I remember :-)

> Unfortunately, financial issues forced me to pause the project after 2018

In addition to the issues you mention, the big change since the early
2000s is the wide availability of cheap cellular connectivity.  Hence, the
demand for mesh networks has changed quite a bit.

> I know that in active conflict zones Wi-Fi can be jammed

The nice thing about having a layer 3 routing protocol is that you can
combine technologies: Babel is designed to handle a network that has both
wired and wireless links, and that uses multiple wireless technologies at
the same time (WiFi at various frequencies, UWB, infrared laser, etc.).
In such a network, Babel should be able to find a path consisting of
whichever links are not jammed at a given time.

Of course, this assumes that the opponent is not able to jam all links
simultaneously.

> - BATMAN-adv-style seamless mobility

I started working on sroamd[1], which implements seamless mobility at
layer 3, but then Covid happened, and I got interested in
videoconferencing.  I guess we could revive it if there's interest.

[1]: https://github.com/jech/sroamd

> - Better large-scale behaviour for hundreds-to-thousands of nodes in
>   sparse or battery-constrained setups

Could you please clarify?

-- Juliusz