Introducing the Marconi Protocol — Part 2
Continuing where my last blog post left off. Here is the remainder of the white-paper introduction:
To address these challenges, we propose Marconi, a protocol that enhances and can even replace existing network infrastructure, allowing any network to realize the full benefits of decentralization. Marconi is a networking and blockchain protocol designed down to OSI layer 2 that allows smart contracts for network packets. Marconi addresses the existing challenges by:
• Securing Ethernet with packet-level encryption.
• Augmenting existing network infrastructure with smart packet contracts and programmable branch
blockchains to enable dynamic network adjustment and novel security and networking applications.
• Decentralizing ownership of network infrastructure by incentivizing the formation of mesh networks where user devices provide switching, routing, and packet processing functionality.
To illustrate the capabilities of the Marconi Protocol, we provide here two example applications that can be built on top of it. The protocol’s components and architecture are described in greater detail later in this paper along with additional use cases.
The first example application is for blockchain projects looking to quickly spin up their own blockchain network. This might be a brand new project or a token project looking to migrate to its own chain. More concretely, take for instance a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange. Similar to other blockchain platforms, this exchange can be built on top of the Marconi Protocol using smart contracts, but with the added benefit of being on its own dedicated blockchain powered by its own token. This is achieved by invoking a Marconi branch contract to create a programmable blockchain, which provides greater token utility and decouples performance from other projects for higher transaction throughput.
Another powerful benefit is that the decentralized exchange can make use of smart packet contracts to improve network resilience and security. For example, many users of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange recently had their account credentials stolen by a phishing attack involving URLs with unicode characters. This attack could have been prevented by using smart packet contracts to analyze network packets to catch these suspicious URLs. Smart packet contracts can also facilitate decentralized network administration such as re-routing packets among network nodes for better load balancing.
Lastly, by taking advantage of the Marconi Protocol’s decentralized network infrastructure, a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange can better protect itself from being forcibly shut down.
The second example application is for secure field networks. Using the Marconi Protocol and the technology it’s built on, these networks can be rapidly deployed in battlefield or disaster relief situations with their traffic history stored on a ledger that can be audited after the network is decommissioned. While deployed, the network can be dynamically extended with wired or wireless hardware that uses the Marconi Protocol for MAC layer security on each data link. The network can also be segmented with different permissions as necessary, ensuring only certain traffic types can be sent in specific segments. With smart packet contracts, next generation firewalls and intrusion prevention systems can be implemented to protect against malicious traffic. And due to its decentralized nature, the network is fault tolerant, automatically reconfiguring to work around links or nodes that go down unexpectedly. Finally, post action analysis can be done with machine learning techniques on historical data, including sensor data from IoT devices used by personnel, to understand whether the network was compromised and to optimize for better future deployments.
Look for the full paper to be released later this week.
