1. Project Byzantium Networking for the Zombie Apocalypse

2. The Internet is BROKEN. It fails on many levels, but let's just focus on the lowest ones for now.

3. Assumptions You know what the Internet is You're familiar with the OSI model You know what routing does (layer 3) You know how to use 802.11 (layers 1 & 2) You like being connected

4. Use Case: Egypt Problem Deliberate compromise of infrastructure ISPs offline Trunk lines go dark Services are filtered Need to collaborate

5. Use Case: Katrina Problem Massive infrastructure failure Natural disaster Connectivity is all or nothing Need to communicate

6. Our Approach Mobile, ad-hoc mesh network Not all nodes need to run mesh routing software Provides services to associated clients

7. Ad-Hoc Networking Takes place at OSI layers 1 and 2 Built into 802.11 Requires minimal configuration to bootstrap a network Nodes can move around while maintaining connectivity Nodes can relay traffic to extend range Any wi-fi enabled device can do it

8. Mesh Routing Takes place at OSI layer 3 Nodes perform IP routing A number of protocols exist Not all protocols have the same features, solve the same problems, or are efficient

9. How Routing Works

10. But wait! Isn't the Internet a mesh network? Not really.

11. The Internet is a partial mesh. It's mostly hierarchical. Lots of networks have routers which are also single points of failure.

12. What we need is a fully connected mesh (or something close to it).

13. Ad-hoc wireless + mesh routing == Mobile ad-hoc mesh network We can already do this, but we need to make it easier.

14. Design Goals Cheap, readily available equipment Improvisable Rapidly deployable Robust and reliable Secure Low maintenance

15. Design Constraints Solving Katrina first, Egypt second A small group of geeks can deploy the solution to enable the larger community to connect. Not all nodes have (or need) the mesh software Minimal collusion required

16. Wireless network Ad-hoc wireless clients Mesh nodes o Hacked routers o Laptops or netbooks o Desktop PCs o Plug computers Inter-mesh links o Cantenna o Dial-up o Something more exotic?

17. Mesh routing Route traffic through the network Route traffic between networks Support both mesh and non-mesh nodes Protocols o OLSR o Babel o BATMAN-adv

18. OLSR (Optimized Link State Routing) Not optimized for wireless o No link-quality awareness Routing loops are possible Tries to propagate the full routing table to every node

19. Babel Enhancement of OLSR Link-quality aware Loop avoidance No kernel code required Works by managing the OS routing table Only supports IPv4 & IPv6 at layer 3 Easy to start Minimal configuration Easy to troubleshoot

20. BATMAN-adv Better Approach To Mobile Ad-hoc Networking Also has link-quality awareness Also has loop avoidance Requires a kernel module o Included in kernel tree since v2.6.38 Provides a virtual layer 2 interface o Works with any layer 3 protocol Very active community Challenging to troubleshoot

21. Resources provided Wiki Microblogs Etherpad Instant messenger Forums Telephony Chat File dump Audio streaming All of these use existing software. XMPP supports many of these features.

22. The Byzantium Live Distribution LiveCD/LiveUSB Linux distribution Mesh routing software o Including source code Software development/debugging tools Network troubleshooting/monitoring tools Resource hosting software

23. The Byzantium Live Distribution Utilities for easy setup and configuration o Shell scripts? o Local web app? Multi-lingual documentation Library (CD3WD) Utilities for replicating copies of the distro in the field

24. Technical difficulties Client configuration o DHCP o AHCP Resource discovery o DNS o Bonjour/ZeroConf/mDNS o Handwriting on the wall o QR Codes o A P2P searchable resource directory service

25. Technical difficulties Inter-mesh links o Exotic != {easy,reliable} o May be specific to use case o Execution over style Easy, intuitive user interface o Configuring mesh routing daemon o Configuring networking Distributing the solution before the crisis