Introduction

What is Reticulum? A crypto-secure, delay-tolerant networking stack for building ad-hoc and long-range meshes over many link types (LoRa, TCP/UDP over the internet, serial/TNC, I2P, etc.).

Ad-hoc (aka rebel infrastructure): a self-organising, decentralised swarm of devices that link up on the fly—no permission, no central gatekeepers. Nodes discover each other, form routes, and keep data flowing even when parts go dark. The mesh heals itself, grows itself, and refuses to wait for “infrastructure approval.”

• Self-organising: nodes find neighbors, trade keys and routes, and bootstrap a network from thin air.
• Decentralised: no single boss node; power and responsibility spread across the mesh.
• Resilient by design: if a link fails, traffic detours; if a node appears, capacity expands.
• Bring-your-own links: LoRa, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, serial—whatever connects becomes part of the fabric.
• Edge-first: services live where the people and sensors are, not in distant data centers.
• Unstoppable vibe: censorship-resistant, outage-proof, permissionless communication.
• Packets do not carry a source address: routers only ever know the previous and next hop, so participants and passive snoopers cannot see the original sender unless the sender chooses to reveal an identity to the intended recipient inside the encrypted link.

In one line: ad-hoc networking is a pop-up, crowd-powered internet that assembles itself anywhere, scales like a swarm, and keeps talking when everything else goes quiet.

Common interfaces (links):

• Internet (TCP/UDP “backbone”): tunnels over IPv4/IPv6, Yggdrasil, or I2P.
• LoRa via RNode: long-range, low-bitrate radio using USB or BLE serial to hosts.
• Serial / KISS / AX.25: packet radio and TNCs.

Typical traffic and use-cases:

• Text & messaging (LXMF): asynchronous chats and announcements.
• Files & images; simple “BBS/web”: via Nomad Network for boards and downloads.
• Audio: short voice messages; real-time calls only on higher-rate links.
• Small data files/telemetry: position beacons, status, sensor data.

Practical data rates (rule-of-thumb):

• Sub-GHz LoRa: ~0.3–11 kbps depending on spreading factor/bandwidth/coding rate (longer range → slower).
• Faster radios (2.4 GHz LoRa, FSK, Wi-Fi, ethernet, HaLow (802.11ah), etc.): tens to hundreds of kbps and upward with suitable modems.
• Implication: text is easy; small files/images are slow but feasible; voice requires faster links or short clips.

Reticulum vs. Meshtastic (very short):

• Reticulum: general-purpose networking stack with multi-bearer routing and store-and-forward; flexible and extensible; 128 hops max.
• Meshtastic: firmware + apps focused on LoRa texting/telemetry; very simple setup, not a full general networking stack; 7 hops max.

Software:

• Sideband: LXMF messenger with files, images, voice messages, and calls (Android, Linux, macOS, Windows).
• Nomad Network: BBS-style messaging/boards/files over Reticulum (Python on Linux/macOS/Windows/SBCs).
• MeshChat (Reticulum MeshChat): friendly LXMF client with voice calls (macOS, Windows).

Devices:

• Phones: Android (via Sideband and a connected radio such as an RNode) and iPhone in test version.
• PCs/Servers: Linux, macOS, Windows.
• Single-board computers: Raspberry Pi 4/3/2, Raspberry Pi Zero W/Zero 2 W, and similar boards (e.g., Orange Pi, Pine64).

Last edit 09-13-2025 MMDDYYY 06:00:00 EST