The Components of RightMesh
It is widely understood that connecting more people to the internet would have a dramatic, positive impact on economic and social development in developing regions. At RightMesh, we strongly believe that mobile mesh networking, enabled by RightMesh, provides an affordable and accessible way to achieve this.
While the ‘why,’ or mission, of RightMesh, to connect the next billion and lift 100 million people out of poverty, is clear, the ‘how’ aspects of our platform are complex and can be difficult to grasp. This article breaks down the components of our platform, addresses some common questions, and defines key terms.
What is RightMesh?
RightMesh is a new mobile communications technology that connects devices together directly to form mobile mesh networks. These networks optimize centralized bandwidth across a large group of users and reduce the need for dedicated internet connections.
What is mobile mesh networking?
Mobile mesh networks form by creating peer-to-peer (or device-to-device) connections between mobile phones or IoT (Internet of things) devices. Connections form through Bluetooth, WiFi direct, and existing phone technologies.
Once a device connects to a mobile mesh network, it can send messages, files, data, etc., in one of two ways:
1. Data can be sent in a single ‘hop’ directly from one device to another.
2. Data can be delivered in a ‘multi-hop’ manner, with a message being transferred through many nodes (devices) until it reaches its endpoint. This method facilitates offline message delivery over greater distances.
What are Nodes?
Nodes are the devices, such as phones or IoT, that run the RightMesh Software and connect with each other to form the mobile mesh network. Once connected, these devices replace the traditional network infrastructure and provide critical functionality to the rest of the devices in the mesh.
There are three categories of RightMesh nodes: Superpeers, data buyers, and data sellers.
What is a Superpeer?
A Superpeer is a fixed node in the RightMesh network (server or PC) that has dedicated Internet connectivity and a power supply.
Superpeers have several critical functions:
- Link disparate mesh networks together: Mesh networks that are not connected to the Internet are localized. By connecting a mesh to a Superpeer, which can connect to another Superpeer, an extensive mesh network is able to be formed across geographies.
- Act as a gateway between the Internet network and the mesh networks: These devices act as proxies and translation units between Internet traffic and RightMesh data requests.
- Communicate with the Ethereum blockchain: Superpeers run both RightMesh and full Ethereum nodes and execute transactions on behalf of RightMesh devices within the network.
- Act as a payment hub: Superpeers will facilitate data transactions and have the opportunity to set pricing for data flow through the Superpeer network.
What is a data seller?
Data seller nodes are mobile devices in the RightMesh network that sell Internet data at a rate determined by the seller. Internet data could be from cellular networks or from other Wi-Fi networks.
All data seller nodes are connected to a Superpeer at any given moment in time to facilitate transactions.
What is a data buyer?
Data buyer nodes are mobile devices in the RightMesh network that are using other people’s bandwidth (or internet access) and are paying for that data at a rate determined by the seller. Data buyers can configure preferences on which seller to connect to if there are multiple sellers available.
The components of RightMesh
The RightMesh platform consists of three core components:
- Ad hoc Mobile Mesh Networking Protocol
- Blockchain-based payment channels
- Android & Java-based SDK
1. Ad hoc Mobile Mesh Networking Protocol
As mentioned, a mobile mesh network is a communications network made up of wireless nodes organized in a mesh topology.
What makes the RightMesh platform ad hoc is that the network does not rely on pre-existing infrastructure. RightMesh uses Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi direct to allow mobile phones, computers, and IoT devices to connect with each other and form the infrastructure when none exists or it is too expensive.
Unlike other mesh technologies, RightMesh can compute paths, rather than naively broadcasting to all devices in an area. Instead, it is self-forming, self-healing, and self-regulating, meaning that it can make use of multiple paths to optimize routes without rooting a device.
2. Blockchain-based payment channels
While mobile mesh networking is at the core of the platform, the blockchain components can power the network by providing a means to incentivize users to participate in the network.
Payment channels are setup between mobile nodes (data buyers and data sellers) and facilitated by a superpeer node, so that nodes are rewarded for the ‘work’ they do in the mobile mesh network.
(NOTE: While payment channels are well-suited for decentralized solutions, the mesh network can also function without payment channels).
3. Android and Java-based SDK
To create the needed network density, mesh networking functionality can be incorporated into existing or new Android or Java applications using the RightMesh SDK.
The SDK provides simple and easy-to-use APIs to integrate RightMesh functionality into the app, while the heavy-lifting work is done by the underlying RightMesh protocol layers that is abstract to developers.
NOTE: Nodes running the RightMesh service will be able to connect to other RightMesh nodes regardless of the application they run, and therefore, developers can piggy back off the network infrastructure created by other applications.
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Additional Resources
Stay in touch:
- Rocket.Chat: https://rocketchat.rightmesh.io
- Telegram announcements: https://t.me/rightmeshannouncements
- Website: https://rightmesh.io
- FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheRightMesh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Right_Mesh
- Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/rightmesh
