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docs/source/whatis.rst
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What is Reticulum?
******************
Reticulum is a cryptography-based networking stack for wide-area networks built on readily available hardware, that can operate even with very high latency and extremely low bandwidth.
Reticulum is a cryptography-based networking stack for building wide-area networks with readily available hardware, that can continue to operate even with extremely low bandwidth and very high latency.
Reticulum allows you to build very wide-area networks with off-the-shelf tools, and offers end-to-end encryption, autoconfiguring cryptographically backed multi-hop transport, efficient addressing, unforgeable packet acknowledgements and more.
Reticulum allows you to build wide-area networks with off-the-shelf tools, and offers end-to-end encryption, autoconfiguring cryptographically backed multi-hop transport, efficient addressing, unforgeable packet acknowledgements and more.
Reticulum is a complete networking stack, and does not need IP or higher layers, although it is easy to utilise IP (with TCP or UDP) as the underlying carrier for Reticulum. It is therefore trivial to tunnel Reticulum over the Internet or private IP networks. Reticulum is built directly on cryptographic principles, allowing resilience and stable functionality in open and trustless networks.
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ No kernel modules or drivers are required. Reticulum runs completely in userland
Current Status
==============
Reticulum should currently be considered beta software. All core protocol features are implemented and functioning, but additions will probably occur as real-world use is explored. There will be bugs. The API and wire-format can be considered relatively stable at the moment, but could change if warranted.
Reticulum should currently be considered beta software. All core protocol features are implemented and functioning, but additions will probably occur as real-world use is explored. There will be bugs. The API and wire-format can be considered stable at the moment, but could change if absolutely warranted.
What does Reticulum Offer?
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ What does Reticulum Offer?
* Complete initiator anonymity, communicate without revealing your identity
* Asymmetric X25519 encryption and Ed25519 signatures as a basis for all communication
* Asymmetric encryption based on X25519, and Ed25519 signatures as a basis for all communication
* Forward Secrecy with ephemereal Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman keys on Curve25519
* Forward Secrecy by using ephemereal Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman keys on Curve25519
* Reticulum uses the `Fernet <https://github.com/fernet/spec/blob/master/Spec.md>`_ specification for on-the-wire / over-the-air encryption
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ What does Reticulum Offer?
* An intuitive and developer-friendly API
* Efficient link establishment
* Total bandwidth cost of setting up a link is only 3 packets, totalling 237 bytes
* Low cost of keeping links open at only 0.62 bits per second
* Reliable and efficient transfer of arbritrary amounts of data
* Reticulum can handle a few bytes of data or files of many gigabytes
@@ -52,11 +58,9 @@ What does Reticulum Offer?
* The API is very easy to use, and provides transfer progress
* Efficient link establishment
* Authentication and virtual network segmentation on all supported interface types
* Total bandwidth cost of setting up a link is only 3 packets, totalling 237 bytes
* Low cost of keeping links open at only 0.62 bits per second
* Flexible scalability allowing extremely low-bandwidth networks to co-exist and interoperate with large, high-bandwidth networks
Where can Reticulum be Used?
@@ -68,9 +72,9 @@ ad-hoc WiFi, free-space optical links and similar systems are all examples
of the types of interfaces Reticulum was designed for.
An open-source LoRa-based interface called `RNode <https://unsigned.io/rnode>`_
has been designed specifically for use with Reticulum. It is possible to build
yourself, or it can be purchased as a complete transceiver that just needs a
USB connection to the host.
has been designed as an example transceiver that is very suitable for
Reticulum. It is possible to build it yourself, to transform a common LoRa
development board into one, or it can be purchased as a complete transceiver.
Reticulum can also be encapsulated over existing IP networks, so there's
nothing stopping you from using it over wired ethernet or your local WiFi
@@ -80,22 +84,40 @@ self-configuring, resilient and encrypted mesh.
As an example, it's possible to set up a Raspberry Pi connected to both a
LoRa radio, a packet radio TNC and a WiFi network. Once the interfaces are
configured, Reticulum will take care of the rest, and any device on the WiFi
added, Reticulum will take care of the rest, and any device on the WiFi
network can communicate with nodes on the LoRa and packet radio sides of the
network, and vice versa.
Interface Types and Devices
===========================
Reticulum implements a range of generalised interface types that covers most of the communications hardware that Reticulum can run over. If your hardware is not supported, it's relatively simple to implement an interface class. Currently, the following interfaces are supported:
Reticulum implements a range of generalised interface types that covers the communications hardware that Reticulum can run over. If your hardware is not supported, it's relatively simple to implement an interface class. Currently, Reticulum can use the following devices and communication mediums:
* Any ethernet device
* WiFi devices
* Wired ethernet devices
* Fibre-optic transceivers
* Data radios with ethernet ports
* LoRa using `RNode <https://unsigned.io/rnode>`_
* Can be installed on `many popular LoRa boards <https://github.com/markqvist/rnodeconfigutil#supported-devices>`_
* Can be purchased as a `ready to use transceiver <https://unsigned.io/rnode>`_
* Packet Radio TNCs, such as `OpenModem <https://unsigned.io/openmodem>`_
* Any packet radio TNC in KISS mode
* Ideal for VHF and UHF radio
* Any device with a serial port
* The I2P network
* TCP over IP networks
* UDP over IP networks