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<li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href="">Understanding Reticulum</a></li>
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<div class="section" id="understanding-reticulum">
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<span id="understanding-main"></span><h1>Understanding Reticulum<a class="headerlink" href="#understanding-reticulum" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
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<p>This chapter will briefly describe the overall purpose and operating principles of Reticulum, a
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networking stack designed for reliable and secure communication over high-latency, low-bandwidth
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links. It should give you an overview of how the stack works, and an understanding of how to
|
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develop networked applications using Reticulum.</p>
|
||
<p>This document is not an exhaustive source of information on Reticulum, at least not yet. Currently,
|
||
the best place to go for such information is the Python reference implementation of Reticulum, along
|
||
with the code examples and API reference. It is however an essential resource to understanding the
|
||
general principles of Reticulum, how to apply them when creating your own networks or software.</p>
|
||
<p>After reading this document, you should be well-equipped to understand how a Reticulum network
|
||
operates, what it can achieve, and how you can use it yourself. If you want to help out with the
|
||
development, this is also the place to start, since it will provide a pretty clear overview of the
|
||
sentiments and the philosophy behind Reticulum.</p>
|
||
<div class="section" id="motivation">
|
||
<span id="understanding-motivation"></span><h2>Motivation<a class="headerlink" href="#motivation" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
|
||
<p>The primary motivation for designing and implementing Reticulum has been the current lack of
|
||
reliable, functional and secure minimal-infrastructure modes of digital communication. It is my
|
||
belief that it is highly desirable to create a cheap and reliable way to set up a wide-range digital
|
||
communication network that can securely allow exchange of information between people and
|
||
machines, with no central point of authority, control, censorship or barrier to entry.</p>
|
||
<p>Almost all of the various networking systems in use today share a common limitation, namely that they
|
||
require large amounts of coordination and trust to work, and to join the networks you need approval
|
||
of gatekeepers in control. This need for coordination and trust inevitably leads to an environment of
|
||
central control, where it’s very easy for infrastructure operators or governments to control or alter
|
||
traffic, and censor or persecute unwanted actors.</p>
|
||
<p>Reticulum aims to require as little coordination and trust as possible. In fact, the only
|
||
“coordination” required is to know the characteristics of physical medium carrying Reticulum traffic.</p>
|
||
<p>Since Reticulum is completely medium agnostic, this could be whatever is best suited to the situation.
|
||
In some cases, this might be 1200 baud packet radio links over VHF frequencies, in other cases it might
|
||
be a microwave network using off-the-shelf radios. At the time of release of this document, the
|
||
recommended setup for development and testing is using LoRa radio modules with an open source firmware
|
||
(see the section <a class="reference internal" href="#understanding-referencesystem"><span class="std std-ref">Reference System Setup</span></a>), connected to a small
|
||
computer like a Raspberry Pi. As an example, the default reference setup provides a channel capacity
|
||
of 5.4 Kbps, and a usable direct node-to-node range of around 15 kilometers (indefinitely extendable
|
||
by using multiple hops).</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="goals">
|
||
<span id="understanding-goals"></span><h2>Goals<a class="headerlink" href="#goals" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
|
||
<p>To be as widely usable and easy to use as possible, the following goals have been used to
|
||
guide the design of Reticulum:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Fully useable as open source software stack</strong></dt><dd><p>Reticulum must be implemented with, and be able to run using only open source software. This is
|
||
critical to ensuring the availability, security and transparency of the system.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Hardware layer agnosticism</strong></dt><dd><p>Reticulum shall be fully hardware agnostic, and shall be useable over a wide range
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||
physical networking layers, such as data radios, serial lines, modems, handheld transceivers,
|
||
wired ethernet, wifi, or anything else that can carry a digital data stream. Hardware made for
|
||
dedicated Reticulum use shall be as cheap as possible and use off-the-shelf components, so
|
||
it can be easily replicated.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Very low bandwidth requirements</strong></dt><dd><p>Reticulum should be able to function reliably over links with a transmission capacity as low
|
||
as <em>500 bps</em>.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
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||
<dt><strong>Encryption by default</strong></dt><dd><p>Reticulum must use strong encryption by default for all communication.</p>
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||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Initiator Anonymity</strong></dt><dd><p>It must be possible to communicate over a Reticulum network without revealing any identifying
|
||
information about oneself.</p>
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||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Unlicensed use</strong></dt><dd><p>Reticulum shall be functional over physical communication mediums that do not require any
|
||
form of license to use. Reticulum must be designed in a way, so it is usable over ISM radio
|
||
frequency bands, and can provide functional long distance links in such conditions, for example
|
||
by connecting a modem to a PMR or CB radio, or by using LoRa or WiFi modules.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Supplied software</strong></dt><dd><p>Apart from the core networking stack and API, that allows a developer to build
|
||
applications with Reticulum, a basic communication suite using Reticulum must be
|
||
implemented and released at the same time as Reticulum itself. This shall serve both as a
|
||
functional communication suite, and as an example and learning resource to others wishing
|
||
to build applications with Reticulum.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Ease of use</strong></dt><dd><p>The reference implementation of Reticulum is written in Python, to make it easy to use
|
||
and understand. A programmer with only basic experience should be able to use
|
||
Reticulum in their own applications.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Low cost</strong></dt><dd><p>It shall be as cheap as possible to deploy a communication system based on Reticulum. This
|
||
should be achieved by using cheap off-the-shelf hardware that potential users might already
|
||
own. The cost of setting up a functioning node should be less than $100 even if all parts
|
||
needs to be purchased.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="introduction-basic-functionality">
|
||
<span id="understanding-basicfunctionality"></span><h2>Introduction & Basic Functionality<a class="headerlink" href="#introduction-basic-functionality" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
|
||
<p>Reticulum is a networking stack suited for high-latency, low-bandwidth links. Reticulum is at it’s
|
||
core a <em>message oriented</em> system. It is suited for both local point-to-point or point-to-multipoint
|
||
scenarios where alle nodes are within range of each other, as well as scenarios where packets need
|
||
to be transported over multiple hops in a complex network to reach the recipient.</p>
|
||
<p>Reticulum does away with the idea of addresses and ports known from IP, TCP and UDP. Instead
|
||
Reticulum uses the singular concept of <em>destinations</em>. Any application using Reticulum as it’s
|
||
networking stack will need to create one or more destinations to receive data, and know the
|
||
destinations it needs to send data to.</p>
|
||
<p>All destinations in Reticulum are represented internally as 10 bytes, derived from truncating a full
|
||
SHA-256 hash of identifying characteristics of the destination. To users, the destination addresses
|
||
will be displayed as 10 bytes in hexadecimal representation, as in the following example: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><80e29bf7cccaf31431b3></span></code>.</p>
|
||
<p>By default Reticulum encrypts all data using elliptic curve cryptography. Any packet sent to a
|
||
destination is encrypted with a derived ephemeral key. Reticulum can also set up an encrypted
|
||
channel to a destination with <em>Forward Secrecy</em> and <em>Initiator Anonymity</em> using a elliptic
|
||
curve cryptography and ephemeral keys derived from a Diffie Hellman exchange on Curve25519. In
|
||
Reticulum terminology, this is called a <em>Link</em>.</p>
|
||
<p>Reticulum also offers symmetric key encryption for group-oriented communications, as well as
|
||
unencrypted packets for broadcast purposes, or situations where you need the communication to be in
|
||
plain text. The multi-hop transport, coordination, verification and reliability layers are fully
|
||
autonomous and based on public key cryptography.</p>
|
||
<p>Reticulum can connect to a variety of interfaces such as radio modems, data radios and serial ports,
|
||
and offers the possibility to easily tunnel Reticulum traffic over IP links such as the Internet or
|
||
private IP networks.</p>
|
||
<div class="section" id="destinations">
|
||
<span id="understanding-destinations"></span><h3>Destinations<a class="headerlink" href="#destinations" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>To receive and send data with the Reticulum stack, an application needs to create one or more
|
||
destinations. Reticulum uses three different basic destination types, and one special:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Single</strong></dt><dd><p>The <em>single</em> destination type is always identified by a unique public key. Any data sent to this
|
||
destination will be encrypted using ephemeral keys derived from an ECDH key exchange, and will
|
||
only be readable by the creator of the destination, who holds the corresponding private key.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Group</strong></dt><dd><p>The <em>group</em> destination type defines a symmetrically encrypted destination. Data sent to this
|
||
destination will be encrypted with a symmetric key, and will be readable by anyone in
|
||
possession of the key.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Plain</strong></dt><dd><p>A <em>plain</em> destination type is unencrypted, and suited for traffic that should be broadcast to a
|
||
number of users, or should be readable by anyone. Traffic to a <em>plain</em> destination is not encrypted.
|
||
Generally, <em>plain</em> destinations can be used for broadcast information intended to be public.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Link</strong></dt><dd><p>A <em>link</em> is a special destination type, that serves as an abstract channel to a <em>single</em>
|
||
destination, directly connected or over multiple hops. The <em>link</em> also offers reliability and
|
||
more efficient encryption, forward secrecy, initiator anonymity, and as such can be useful even
|
||
when a node is directly reachable.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<div class="section" id="destination-naming">
|
||
<span id="understanding-destinationnaming"></span><h4>Destination Naming<a class="headerlink" href="#destination-naming" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
|
||
<p>Destinations are created and named in an easy to understand dotted notation of <em>aspects</em>, and
|
||
represented on the network as a hash of this value. The hash is a SHA-256 truncated to 80 bits. The
|
||
top level aspect should always be a unique identifier for the application using the destination.
|
||
The next levels of aspects can be defined in any way by the creator of the application.</p>
|
||
<p>Aspects can be as long and as plentiful as required, and a resulting long destination name will not
|
||
impact efficiency, as names are always represented as truncated SHA-256 hashes on the network.</p>
|
||
<p>As an example, a destination for a environmental monitoring application could be made up of the
|
||
application name, a device type and measurement type, like this:</p>
|
||
<div class="highlight-text notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>app name : environmentlogger
|
||
aspects : remotesensor, temperature
|
||
|
||
full name : environmentlogger.remotesensor.temperature
|
||
hash : fa7ddfab5213f916dea
|
||
</pre></div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p>For the <em>single</em> destination, Reticulum will automatically append the associated public key as a
|
||
destination aspect before hashing. This is done to ensure only the correct destination is reached,
|
||
since anyone can listen to any destination name. Appending the public key ensures that a given
|
||
packet is only directed at the destination that holds the corresponding private key to decrypt the
|
||
packet.</p>
|
||
<p><strong>Take note!</strong> There is a very important concept to understand here:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><p>Anyone can use the destination name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">environmentlogger.remotesensor.temperature</span></code></p></li>
|
||
<li><p>Each destination that does so will still have a unique destination hash, and thus be uniquely
|
||
addressable, because their public keys will differ.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>In actual use of <em>single</em> destination naming, it is advisable not to use any uniquely identifying
|
||
features in aspect naming. Aspect names should be general terms describing what kind of destination
|
||
is represented. The uniquely identifying aspect is always acheived by the appending the public key,
|
||
which expands the destination into a uniquely identifyable one.</p>
|
||
<p>Any destination on a Reticulum network can be addressed and reached simply by knowning its
|
||
destination hash (and public key, but if the public key is not known, it can be requested from the
|
||
network simply by knowing the destination hash). The use of app names and aspects makes it easy to
|
||
structure Reticulum programs and makes it possible to filter what information and data your program
|
||
receives.</p>
|
||
<p>To recap, the different destination types should be used in the following situations:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Single</strong></dt><dd><p>When private communication between two endpoints is needed. Supports multiple hops.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Group</strong></dt><dd><p>When private communication between two or more endpoints is needed. Supports multiple hops
|
||
indirectly, but must first be established through a <em>single</em> destination.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Plain</strong></dt><dd><p>When plain-text communication is desirable, for example when broadcasting information.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>To communicate with a <em>single</em> destination, you need to know it’s public key. Any method for
|
||
obtaining the public key is valid, but Reticulum includes a simple mechanism for making other
|
||
nodes aware of your destinations public key, called the <em>announce</em>. It is also possible to request
|
||
an unknown public key from the network, as all participating nodes serve as a distributed ledger
|
||
of public keys.</p>
|
||
<p>Note that public key information can be shared and verified in many other ways than using the
|
||
built-in <em>announce</em> functionality, and that it is therefore not required to use the announce/request
|
||
functionality to obtain public keys. It is by far the easiest though, and should definitely be used
|
||
if there is not a good reason for doing it differently.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="public-key-announcements">
|
||
<span id="understanding-keyannouncements"></span><h3>Public Key Announcements<a class="headerlink" href="#public-key-announcements" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>An <em>announce</em> will send a special packet over any configured interfaces, containing all needed
|
||
information about the destination hash and public key, and can also contain some additional,
|
||
application specific data. The entire packet is signed by the sender to ensure authenticity. It is not
|
||
required to use the announce functionality, but in many cases it will be the simplest way to share
|
||
public keys on the network. As an example, an announce in a simple messenger application might
|
||
contain the following information:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><p>The announcers destination hash</p></li>
|
||
<li><p>The announcers public key</p></li>
|
||
<li><p>Application specific data, in this case the users nickname and availability status</p></li>
|
||
<li><p>A random blob, making each new announce unique</p></li>
|
||
<li><p>An Ed25519 signature of the above information, verifying authenticity</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>With this information, any Reticulum node that receives it will be able to reconstruct an outgoing
|
||
destination to securely communicate with that destination. You might have noticed that there is one
|
||
piece of information lacking to reconstruct full knowledge of the announced destination, and that is
|
||
the aspect names of the destination. These are intentionally left out to save bandwidth, since they
|
||
will be implicit in almost all cases. If a destination name is not entirely implicit, information can be
|
||
included in the application specific data part that will allow the receiver to infer the naming.</p>
|
||
<p>It is important to note that announces will be forwarded throughout the network according to a
|
||
certain pattern. This will be detailed in the section
|
||
<a class="reference internal" href="#understanding-announce"><span class="std std-ref">The Announce Mechanism in Detail</span></a>.</p>
|
||
<p>Seeing how <em>single</em> destinations are always tied to a private/public key pair leads us to the next topic.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="understanding-identities">
|
||
<span id="identities"></span><h3>Identities<a class="headerlink" href="#understanding-identities" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>In Reticulum, an <em>identity</em> does not necessarily represent a personal identity, but is an abstraction that
|
||
can represent any kind of <em>verified entity</em>. This could very well be a person, but it could also be the
|
||
control interface of a machine, a program, robot, computer, sensor or something else entirely. In
|
||
general, any kind of agent that can act, or be acted upon, or store or manipulate information, can be
|
||
represented as an identity.</p>
|
||
<p>As we have seen, a <em>single</em> destination will always have an <em>identity</em> tied to it, but not <em>plain</em> or <em>group</em>
|
||
destinations. Destinations and identities share a multilateral connection. You can create a
|
||
destination, and if it is not connected to an identity upon creation, it will just create a new one to use
|
||
automatically. This may be desirable in some situations, but often you will probably want to create
|
||
the identity first, and then link it to created destinations.</p>
|
||
<p>Building upon the simple messenger example, we could use an identity to represent the user of the
|
||
application. Destinations created will then be linked to this identity to allow communication to
|
||
reach the user. In all cases it is of great importance to store the private keys associated with any
|
||
Reticulum Identity securely and privately.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="getting-further">
|
||
<span id="understanding-gettingfurther"></span><h3>Getting Further<a class="headerlink" href="#getting-further" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>The above functions and principles form the core of Reticulum, and would suffice to create
|
||
functional networked applications in local clusters, for example over radio links where all interested
|
||
nodes can directly hear each other. But to be truly useful, we need a way to direct traffic over multiple
|
||
hops in the network.</p>
|
||
<p>In the following sections, two concepts that allow this will be introduced, <em>paths</em> and <em>links</em>.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="reticulum-transport">
|
||
<span id="understanding-transport"></span><h2>Reticulum Transport<a class="headerlink" href="#reticulum-transport" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
|
||
<p>The term routing has been purposefully avoided until now. The current methods of routing used in IP-based
|
||
networks are fundamentally incompatible with the physical link types that Reticulum was designed to handle.
|
||
These routing methodologies assume trust at the physical layer, and often needs a lot more bandwidth than
|
||
Reticulum can assume is available.</p>
|
||
<p>Since Reticulum is designed to run over open radio spectrum, no such trust exists, and bandwidth is often
|
||
very limited. Existing routing protocols like BGP or OSPF carry too much overhead to be practically
|
||
useable over bandwidth-limited, high-latency links.</p>
|
||
<p>To overcome such challenges, Reticulum’s <em>Transport</em> system uses public-key cryptography to
|
||
implement the concept of <em>paths</em> that allow discovery of how to get information to a certain
|
||
destination. It is important to note that no single node in a Reticulum network knows the complete
|
||
path to a destination. Every Transport node participating in a Reticulum network will only
|
||
know what the most direct way to get a packet one hop closer to it’s destination is.</p>
|
||
<div class="section" id="the-announce-mechanism-in-detail">
|
||
<span id="understanding-announce"></span><h3>The Announce Mechanism in Detail<a class="headerlink" href="#the-announce-mechanism-in-detail" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>When an <em>announce</em> is transmitted by a node, it will be forwarded by any node receiving it, but
|
||
according to some specific rules:</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">If this exact announce has already been received before, ignore it.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">If not, record into a table which node the announce was received from, and how many times in
|
||
total it has been retransmitted to get here.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">If the announce has been retransmitted <em>m+1</em> times, it will not be forwarded. By default, <em>m</em> is
|
||
set to 18.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">The announce will be assigned a delay <em>d</em> = c<sup>h</sup> seconds, where <em>c</em> is a decay constant, and <em>h</em> is the amount of times this packet has already been forwarded.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">The packet will be given a priority <em>p = 1/d</em>.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">If at least <em>d</em> seconds has passed since the announce was received, and no other packets with a
|
||
priority higher than <em>p</em> are waiting in the queue (see Packet Prioritisation), and the channel is
|
||
not utilized by other traffic, the announce will be forwarded.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">If no other nodes are heard retransmitting the announce with a greater hop count than when
|
||
it left this node, transmitting it will be retried <em>r</em> times. By default, <em>r</em> is set to 1. Retries
|
||
follow same rules as above, with the exception that it must wait for at least <em>d</em> = c<sup>h+1</sup> +
|
||
t + rand(0, rw) seconds. This amount of time is equal to the amount of time it would take the next
|
||
node to retransmit the packet, plus a random window. By default, <em>t</em> is set to 10 seconds, and the
|
||
random window <em>rw</em> is set to 10 seconds.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">If a newer announce from the same destination arrives, while an identical one is already in
|
||
the queue, the newest announce is discarded. If the newest announce contains different
|
||
application specific data, it will replace the old announce, but will use <em>d</em> and <em>p</em> of the old
|
||
announce.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>Once an announce has reached a node in the network, any other node in direct contact with that
|
||
node will be able to reach the destination the announce originated from, simply by sending a packet
|
||
addressed to that destination. Any node with knowledge of the announce will be able to direct the
|
||
packet towards the destination by looking up the next node with the shortest amount of hops to the
|
||
destination.</p>
|
||
<p>According to these rules and default constants, an announce will propagate throughout the network
|
||
in a predictable way. In an example network utilising the default constants, and with an average link
|
||
distance of <em>Lavg =</em> 15 kilometers, an announce will be able to propagate outwards to a radius of 180
|
||
kilometers in 34 minutes, and a <em>maximum announce radius</em> of 270 kilometers in approximately 3
|
||
days.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="reaching-the-destination">
|
||
<span id="understanding-paths"></span><h3>Reaching the Destination<a class="headerlink" href="#reaching-the-destination" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>In networks with changing topology and trustless connectivity, nodes need a way to establish
|
||
<em>verified connectivity</em> with each other. Since the network is assumed to be trustless, Reticulum
|
||
must provide a way to guarantee that the peer you are communicating with is actually who you
|
||
expect. Reticulum offers two ways to do this.</p>
|
||
<p>For exchanges of small amounts of information, Reticulum offers the <em>Packet</em> API, which works exactly like you would expect - on a per packet level. The following process is employed when sending a packet:</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">A packet is always created with an associated destination and some payload data. When the packet is sent
|
||
to a <em>single</em> destination type, Reticulum will automatically create an ephemeral encryption key, perform
|
||
an ECDH key exchange with the destinations public key, and encrypt the information.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">It is important to note that this key exchange does not require any network traffic. The sender already
|
||
knows the public key of the destination from an earlier received <em>announce</em>, and can thus perform the ECDH
|
||
key exchange locally, before sending the packet.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">The public part of the newly generated ephemeral key-pair is included with the encrypted token, and sent
|
||
along with the encrypted payload data in the packet.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">When the destination receives the packet, it can itself perform an ECDH key exchange and decrypt the
|
||
packet.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">A new ephemeral key is used for every packet sent in this way, and forward secrecy is guaranteed on a
|
||
per packet level.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">Once the packet has been received and decrypted by the addressed destination, that destination can opt
|
||
to <em>prove</em> its receipt of the packet. It does this by calculating the SHA-256 hash of the received packet,
|
||
and signing this hash with it’s Ed25519 signing key. Transport nodes in the network can then direct this
|
||
<em>proof</em> back to the packets origin, where the signature can be verified against the destinations known
|
||
public signing key.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">In case the packet is addressed to a <em>group</em> destination type, the packet will be encrypted with the
|
||
pre-shared AES-128 key associated with the destination. In case the packet is addressed to a <em>plain</em>
|
||
destination type, the payload data will not be encrypted. Neither of these two destination types offer
|
||
forward secrecy. In general, it is recommended to always use the <em>single</em> destination type, unless it is
|
||
strictly necessary to use one of the others.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>For exchanges of larger amounts of data, or when longer sessions of bidirectional communication is desired, Reticulum offers the <em>Link</em> API. To establish a <em>link</em>, the following process is employed:</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">First, the node that wishes to establish a link will send out a special packet, that
|
||
traverses the network and locates the desired destination. Along the way, the nodes that
|
||
forward the packet will take note of this <em>link request</em>.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">Second, if the destination accepts the <em>link request</em> , it will send back a packet that proves the
|
||
authenticity of it’s identity (and the receipt of the link request) to the initiating node. All
|
||
nodes that initially forwarded the packet will also be able to verify this proof, and thus
|
||
accept the validity of the <em>link</em> throughout the network.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">When the validity of the <em>link</em> has been accepted by forwarding nodes, these nodes will
|
||
remember the <em>link</em> , and it can subsequently be used by referring to a hash representing it.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">As a part of the <em>link request</em> , a Diffie-Hellman key exchange takes place, that sets up an
|
||
efficiently encrypted tunnel between the two nodes, using elliptic curve cryptography. As such,
|
||
this mode of communication is preferred, even for situations when nodes can directly communicate,
|
||
when the amount of data to be exchanged numbers in the tens of packets.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">When a <em>link</em> has been set up, it automatically provides message receipt functionality, through
|
||
the same <em>proof</em> mechanism discussed before, so the sending node can obtain verified confirmation
|
||
that the information reached the intended recipient.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>In a moment, we will discuss the details of how this methodology is implemented, but let’s first
|
||
recap what purposes this methodology serves. We first ensure that the node answering our request
|
||
is actually the one we want to communicate with, and not a malicious actor pretending to be so.
|
||
At the same time we establish an efficient encrypted channel. The setup of this is relatively cheap in
|
||
terms of bandwidth, so it can be used just for a short exchange, and then recreated as needed, which will
|
||
also rotate encryption keys. The link can also be kept alive for longer periods of time, if this is
|
||
more suitable to the application. The procedure also inserts the <em>link id</em> , a hash calculated from the link request packet, into the memory of forwarding nodes, which means that the communicating nodes can thereafter reach each other simply by referring to this <em>link id</em>.</p>
|
||
<p>The combined bandwidth cost of setting up a link is 3 packets totalling 237 bytes (more info in the
|
||
<a class="reference internal" href="#understanding-packetformat"><span class="std std-ref">Binary Packet Format</span></a> section). The amount of bandwidth used on keeping
|
||
a link open is practically negligible, at 0.62 bits per second. Even on a slow 1200 bits per second packet
|
||
radio channel, 100 concurrent links will still leave 95% channel capacity for actual data.</p>
|
||
<div class="section" id="link-establishment-in-detail">
|
||
<h4>Link Establishment in Detail<a class="headerlink" href="#link-establishment-in-detail" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
|
||
<p>After exploring the basics of the announce mechanism, finding a path through the network, and an overview
|
||
of the link establishment procedure, this section will go into greater detail about the Reticulum link
|
||
establishment process.</p>
|
||
<p>The <em>link</em> in Reticulum terminology should not be viewed as a direct node-to-node link on the
|
||
physical layer, but as an abstract channel, that can be open for any amount of time, and can span
|
||
an arbitrary number of hops, where information will be exchanged between two nodes.</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">When a node in the network wants to establish verified connectivity with another node, it
|
||
will randomly generate a new X25519 private/public key pair. It then creates a <em>link request</em>
|
||
packet, and broadcast it.</div>
|
||
<div class="line"><br /></div>
|
||
<div class="line"><em>It should be noted that the X25519 public/private keypair mentioned above is two separate keypairs:
|
||
An encryption key pair, used for derivation of a shared symmetric key, and a signing key pair, used
|
||
for signing and verifying messages on the link. They are sent together over the wire, and can be
|
||
considered as single public key for simplicity in this explanation.</em></div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">The <em>link request</em> is addressed to the destination hash of the desired destination, and
|
||
contains the following data: The newly generated X25519 public key <em>LKi</em>.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">The broadcasted packet will be directed through the network according to the rules laid out
|
||
previously.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">Any node that forwards the link request will store a <em>link id</em> in it’s <em>link table</em> , along with the
|
||
amount of hops the packet had taken when received. The link id is a hash of the entire link
|
||
request packet. If the link request packet is not <em>proven</em> by the addressed destination within some
|
||
set amount of time, the entry will be dropped from the <em>link table</em> again.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">When the destination receives the link request packet, it will decide whether to accept the request.
|
||
If it is accepted, the destination will also generate a new X25519 private/public key pair, and
|
||
perform a Diffie Hellman Key Exchange, deriving a new symmetric key that will be used to encrypt the
|
||
channel, once it has been established.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">A <em>link proof</em> packet is now constructed and transmitted over the network. This packet is
|
||
addressed to the <em>link id</em> of the <em>link</em>. It contains the following data: The newly generated X25519
|
||
public key <em>LKr</em> and an Ed25519 signature of the <em>link id</em> and <em>LKr</em> made by the signing key of
|
||
the addressed destination.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">By verifying this <em>link proof</em> packet, all nodes that originally transported the <em>link request</em>
|
||
packet to the destination from the originator can now verify that the intended destination received
|
||
the request and accepted it, and that the path they chose for forwarding the request was valid.
|
||
In sucessfully carrying out this verification, the transporting nodes marks the link as active.
|
||
An abstract bi-directional communication channel has now been established along a path in the network.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><div class="line-block">
|
||
<div class="line">When the source receives the <em>proof</em> , it will know unequivocally that a verified path has been
|
||
established to the destination. It can now also use the X25519 public key contained in the
|
||
<em>link proof</em> to perform it’s own Diffie Hellman Key Exchange and derive the symmetric key
|
||
that is used to encrypt the channel. Information can now be exchanged reliably and securely.</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>It’s important to note that this methodology ensures that the source of the request does not need to
|
||
reveal any identifying information about itself. The link initiator remains completely anonymous.</p>
|
||
<p>When using <em>links</em>, Reticulum will automatically verify all data sent over the link, and can also
|
||
automate retransmissions if <em>Resources</em> are used.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="resources">
|
||
<span id="understanding-resources"></span><h3>Resources<a class="headerlink" href="#resources" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>For exchanging small amounts of data over a Reticulum network, the <a class="reference internal" href="reference.html#api-packet"><span class="std std-ref">Packet</span></a> interface
|
||
is sufficient, but for exchanging data that would require many packets, an efficient way to coordinate
|
||
the transfer is needed.</p>
|
||
<p>This is the purpose of the Reticulum <a class="reference internal" href="reference.html#api-resource"><span class="std std-ref">Resource</span></a>. A <em>Resource</em> can automatically
|
||
handle the reliable transfer of an arbitrary amount of data over an established <a class="reference internal" href="reference.html#api-link"><span class="std std-ref">Link</span></a>.
|
||
Resources can auto-compress data, will handle breaking the data into individual packets, sequencing
|
||
the transfer, integrity verification and reassembling the data on the other end.</p>
|
||
<p><a class="reference internal" href="reference.html#api-resource"><span class="std std-ref">Resources</span></a> are programmatically very simple to use, and only requires a few lines
|
||
of codes to reliably transfer any amount of data. They can be used to transfer data stored in memory,
|
||
or stream data directly from files.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="reference-system-setup">
|
||
<span id="understanding-referencesystem"></span><h2>Reference System Setup<a class="headerlink" href="#reference-system-setup" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
|
||
<p>This section will detail the recommended <em>Reference System Setup</em> for Reticulum. It is important to
|
||
note that Reticulum is designed to be usable over more or less any medium that allows you to send
|
||
and receive data in a digital form, and satisfies some very low minimum requirements. The
|
||
communication channel must support at least half-duplex operation, and provide an average
|
||
throughput of around 1000 bits per second, and supports a physical layer MTU of 500 bytes. The
|
||
Reticulum software should be able to run on more or less any hardware that can provide a Python 3.x
|
||
runtime environment.</p>
|
||
<p>That being said, the reference setup has been outlined to provide a common platform for anyone
|
||
who wants to help in the development of Reticulum, and for everyone who wants to know a
|
||
recommended setup to get started. A reference system consists of three parts:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>A channel access device</strong></dt><dd><p>Or <em>CAD</em> , in short, provides access to the physical medium whereupon the communication
|
||
takes place, for example a radio with an integrated modem. A setup with a separate modem
|
||
connected to a radio would also be termed a “channel access device”.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>A host device</strong></dt><dd><p>Some sort of computing device that can run the necessary software, communicates with the
|
||
channel access device, and provides user interaction.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>A software stack</strong></dt><dd><p>The software implementing the Reticulum protocol and applications using it.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>The reference setup can be considered a relatively stable platform to develop on, and also to start
|
||
building networks on. While details of the implementation might change at the current stage of
|
||
development, it is the goal to maintain hardware compatibility for as long as entirely possible, and
|
||
the current reference setup has been determined to provide a functional platform for many years
|
||
into the future. The current Reference System Setup is as follows:</p>
|
||
<ul class="simple">
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Channel Access Device</strong></dt><dd><p>A data radio consisting of a LoRa radio module, and a microcontroller with open source
|
||
firmware, that can connect to host devices via USB. It operates in either the 430, 868 or 900
|
||
MHz frequency bands. More details can be found on the <a class="reference external" href="https://unsigned.io/rnode">RNode Page</a>.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Host device</strong></dt><dd><p>Any computer device running Linux and Python. A Raspberry Pi with a Debian based OS is
|
||
recommended.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><dl class="simple">
|
||
<dt><strong>Software stack</strong></dt><dd><p>The current Reference Implementation Release of Reticulum, running on a Debian based
|
||
operating system.</p>
|
||
</dd>
|
||
</dl>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>It is very important to note, that the reference channel access device <strong>does not</strong> use the LoRaWAN
|
||
standard, but uses a custom MAC layer on top of the plain LoRa modulation! As such, you will
|
||
need a plain LoRa radio module connected to an MCU with the correct firmware. Full details on how to
|
||
get or make such a device is available on the <a class="reference external" href="https://unsigned.io/rnode">RNode Page</a>.</p>
|
||
<p>With the current reference setup, it should be possible to get on a Reticulum network for around 100$
|
||
even if you have none of the hardware already, and need to purchase everything.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="protocol-specifics">
|
||
<span id="understanding-protocolspecifics"></span><h2>Protocol Specifics<a class="headerlink" href="#protocol-specifics" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
|
||
<p>This chapter will detail protocol specific information that is essential to the implementation of
|
||
Reticulum, but non critical in understanding how the protocol works on a general level. It should be
|
||
treated more as a reference than as essential reading.</p>
|
||
<div class="section" id="node-types">
|
||
<h3>Node Types<a class="headerlink" href="#node-types" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>Currently Reticulum defines two node types, the <em>Station</em> and the <em>Peer</em>. A node is a <em>station</em> if it fixed
|
||
in one place, and if it is intended to be kept online most of the time. Otherwise the node is a <em>peer</em>.</p>
|
||
<p>This distinction is made by the user configuring the node, and is used to determine what nodes on the
|
||
network will help forward traffic, and what nodes rely on other nodes for connectivity.</p>
|
||
<p>If a node is a <em>Peer</em> it should be given the configuration directive <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">enable_transport</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">No</span></code>.</p>
|
||
<p>If it is a <em>Station</em>, it should be given the configuration directive <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">enable_transport</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">Yes</span></code>.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="packet-prioritisation">
|
||
<h3>Packet Prioritisation<a class="headerlink" href="#packet-prioritisation" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<p>Currently, Reticulum is completely priority-agnostic regarding general traffic. All traffic is handled
|
||
on a first-come, first-serve basis. Announce re-transmission are handled according to the re-transmission
|
||
times and priorities described earlier in this chapter.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="section" id="binary-packet-format">
|
||
<span id="understanding-packetformat"></span><h3>Binary Packet Format<a class="headerlink" href="#binary-packet-format" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
|
||
<div class="highlight-text notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>== Reticulum Wire Format ======
|
||
|
||
A Reticulum packet is composed of the following fields:
|
||
|
||
[HEADER 2 bytes] [ADDRESSES 10/20 bytes] [CONTEXT 1 byte] [DATA 0-477 bytes]
|
||
|
||
* The HEADER field is 2 bytes long.
|
||
* Byte 1: [Header Type], [Propagation Type], [Destination Type] and [Packet Type]
|
||
* Byte 2: Number of hops
|
||
|
||
* The ADDRESSES field contains either 1 or 2 addresses.
|
||
* Each address is 10 bytes long.
|
||
* The Header Type flag in the HEADER field determines
|
||
whether the ADDRESSES field contains 1 or 2 addresses.
|
||
* Addresses are Reticulum hashes truncated to 10 bytes.
|
||
|
||
* The CONTEXT field is 1 byte.
|
||
* It is used by Reticulum to determine packet context.
|
||
|
||
* The DATA field is between 0 and 477 bytes.
|
||
* It contains the packets data payload.
|
||
|
||
Header Types
|
||
-----------------
|
||
type 1 00 Two byte header, one 10 byte address field
|
||
type 2 01 Two byte header, two 10 byte address fields
|
||
type 3 10 Reserved
|
||
type 4 11 Reserved
|
||
|
||
|
||
Propagation Types
|
||
-----------------
|
||
broadcast 00
|
||
transport 01
|
||
reserved 10
|
||
reserved 11
|
||
|
||
|
||
Destination Types
|
||
-----------------
|
||
single 00
|
||
group 01
|
||
plain 10
|
||
link 11
|
||
|
||
|
||
Packet Types
|
||
-----------------
|
||
data 00
|
||
announce 01
|
||
link request 10
|
||
proof 11
|
||
|
||
|
||
+- Packet Example -+
|
||
|
||
HEADER FIELD ADDRESSES FIELD CONTEXT FIELD DATA FIELD
|
||
_______|_______ ________________|________________ ________|______ __|_
|
||
| | | | | | | |
|
||
01010000 00000100 [ADDR1, 10 bytes] [ADDR2, 10 bytes] [CONTEXT, 1 byte] [DATA]
|
||
| | | | |
|
||
| | | | +-- Hops = 4
|
||
| | | +------- Packet Type = DATA
|
||
| | +--------- Destination Type = SINGLE
|
||
| +----------- Propagation Type = TRANSPORT
|
||
+------------- Header Type = HEADER_2 (two byte header, two address fields)
|
||
|
||
|
||
+- Packet Example -+
|
||
|
||
HEADER FIELD ADDRESSES FIELD CONTEXT FIELD DATA FIELD
|
||
_______|_______ _______|_______ ________|______ __|_
|
||
| | | | | | | |
|
||
00000000 00000111 [ADDR1, 10 bytes] [CONTEXT, 1 byte] [DATA]
|
||
| | | | |
|
||
| | | | +-- Hops = 7
|
||
| | | +------- Packet Type = DATA
|
||
| | +--------- Destination Type = SINGLE
|
||
| +----------- Propagation Type = BROADCAST
|
||
+------------- Header Type = HEADER_1 (two byte header, one address field)
|
||
|
||
|
||
Size examples of different packet types
|
||
---------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The following table lists example sizes of various
|
||
packet types. The size listed are the complete on-
|
||
wire size including all fields.
|
||
|
||
- Path Request : 33 bytes
|
||
- Announce : 151 bytes
|
||
- Link Request : 77 bytes
|
||
- Link Proof : 77 bytes
|
||
- Link RTT packet : 83 bytes
|
||
- Link keepalive : 14 bytes
|
||
</pre></div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<div class="clearer"></div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
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|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
|
||
<div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
|
||
<h3><a href="index.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Understanding Reticulum</a><ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#motivation">Motivation</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#goals">Goals</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#introduction-basic-functionality">Introduction & Basic Functionality</a><ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#destinations">Destinations</a><ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#destination-naming">Destination Naming</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#public-key-announcements">Public Key Announcements</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#understanding-identities">Identities</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#getting-further">Getting Further</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#reticulum-transport">Reticulum Transport</a><ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#the-announce-mechanism-in-detail">The Announce Mechanism in Detail</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#reaching-the-destination">Reaching the Destination</a><ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#link-establishment-in-detail">Link Establishment in Detail</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#resources">Resources</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#reference-system-setup">Reference System Setup</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#protocol-specifics">Protocol Specifics</a><ul>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#node-types">Node Types</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#packet-prioritisation">Packet Prioritisation</a></li>
|
||
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#binary-packet-format">Binary Packet Format</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</li>
|
||
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|
||
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