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GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

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Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#121

Post by Nrsolis »

daniper wrote: post #84
kfullert wrote: post #3

Interesting ... does this do any kind of store and forward or relaying? Say I send a message to a friend who happens to be out of range, but there was another GoTenna user who neither of us know, but who is in range of us both, will it relay the message via this 3rd party (encrypted) or is it purely a direct connection between sender --> receiver?

We want to do that, but FCC regulations don't enable meshing (currently) on the bands we're using (151-154 MHz, aka the MURS band). We considered releasing a 900 MHz device that the FCC allows to mesh but then you only get, if you're lucky, up to 0.5 km range and it has to be line-of-sight. So we went with MURS because you can get greater range and don't have to be line-of-sight; the propagation characteristics are b…

I ordered mine when the page went live. I hope to get them soon and start enjoying them. I'm actually headed out to Colorado to climb the Collegiate Peaks so I'm hoping they get here before mid-August.

Don't worry. I've got a ham license and I'm bringing my 2m/70cm HT with me and a SatCom set too. Would be nice to give it a go in real-world conditions.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#122

Post by robotresearcher »

decktech wrote: post #35
kfullert wrote: post #3

Interesting ... does this do any kind of store and forward or relaying? Say I send a message to a friend who happens to be out of range, but there was another GoTenna user who neither of us know, but who is in range of us both, will it relay the message via this 3rd party (encrypted) or is it purely a direct connection between sender --> receiver?

As I understand it (I am in the outer gotenna circle) it will do some sort of store and forward mesh network-y thing.

Not at these frequencies. It's prohibited by the FCC. See some explanations from an insider above.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#123

Post by robotresearcher »

calebm wrote: post #70

Potential cool application of GoTenna: communication with a robot without having to pay for a data plan.

You're right. I could use a good radio. Downsides: the Bluetooth local connection is wasteful, the bandwidth is going to be pretty low, and I can't immediately see if they have an open developer license.

Wireless is very hard. If you've spent much time working with it, it's amazing how good wifi and cellphones are.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#124

Post by FindersKeep »

sbierwagen wrote: post #107
bengotow wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it be possible to build a software-level mesh on top of these devices even though they don't officially support meshing? In other words, could someone build an iPhone app that implements some sort of decentralized DNS and routes messages, even though the hardware can't do that on it's own?

CFR 2009 § 95.1311 MURS stations are prohibited from operating as a repeater station or as a signal booster. This prohibition in- cludes store-and-forward packet oper- ation. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol5/pdf/CFR-2... Pretty clear cut. No packet routing, at all, for any reason, using any method. Doesn't matter if the radio firmware is doing it or if the client is doing it. (There is a general exe…

Then don't use packets, use a streams of hashes or something mathematically similar that doesn't fit the characteristics of a packet, but still retains the security, and integrity of the information.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#125

Post by cdcarter »

0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #90
mng2 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also explicitly forbid store-and-forward operations.

Unless it is very fast store-and-forward?

Unfortunately, both acting as a repeater live and in SaF mode are prohibited.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#126

Post by daniper »

jimmies wrote: post #109
jmyaunch wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! I'm on the mobile development team here at goTenna. We're taking advantage of the Bluetooth LE standard encyption with is AES-CCM. More on that here: http://bit.ly/1teKWvG For encrypting the data as it's sent between gotennas we're using 1024 bit RSA. Not sure what level of detail you'd like.. but here are a few things to get you started! RSA itself: http://bit.ly/1kDlTgP Cryptographic Services: http://bit.ly/1te…

So, question: How do you authenticate the person you are trying to message with, i.e. How do I know that I'm sending the message I want to send to (the real) Jason Greengrocer not the FBI pretending to be Jason?

At set up, you can either set up your goTenna ID to be your phone number (recommended, as it will then integrate with your contact list and make it easy for other people you know using goTenna to find you with goTenna) or a randomly generated string we create for you (for the crypto people out there!). The way we ensure your (or Jason Greengrocer's!) phone number isn't spoofed is we verify your phone number through the regular telephony network when you do have connectivity. If you complete setup without connectivity and enter a telephone number as your ID, you will show up as "Unverified." We don't recommend offline setup though because then you can't download all our awesome detailed offline map packs (you'll just get the world vector map that comes with the app at download).

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#127

Post by superuser2 »

tlrobinson wrote: post #91

A consumer-friendly, open version of amateur radio's APRS network would be really cool. This seems like the first step, though I don't know if they intend to open the protocol. Also, 50 mile range sounds great, but that's under "ideal" conditions, which happens roughly never. I'm curious what the range would be in the real world.

>This seems like the first step

The first step would be a (multi?)-billion dollar spectrum purchase, I would think.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#129

Post by meatmanek »

sbierwagen wrote: post #107
bengotow wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it be possible to build a software-level mesh on top of these devices even though they don't officially support meshing? In other words, could someone build an iPhone app that implements some sort of decentralized DNS and routes messages, even though the hardware can't do that on it's own?

CFR 2009 § 95.1311 MURS stations are prohibited from operating as a repeater station or as a signal booster. This prohibition in- cludes store-and-forward packet oper- ation. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol5/pdf/CFR-2... Pretty clear cut. No packet routing, at all, for any reason, using any method. Doesn't matter if the radio firmware is doing it or if the client is doing it. (There is a general exe…

I wonder whether the FCC is going to consider Bluetooth MURS interconnection to be in violation of this rule.

Re: GoTenna – Send and receive messages even when you don’t have service

#130

Post by mightymu »

daniper wrote: post #83
ikonst wrote: post #71

This can be significantly better than walkie-talkies. In poor reception, sometimes you can't manage to deliver even a simple message coherently (especially since, to be understood by a fellow human, you need reliable communication in real time for the duration of your entire message). But usually, you just want to get a message across. You want something like morse code, not voice. Delivering a short textual message,…

Preach on! :) Yes, we think we're better/more convenient than walkie-talkies for a few reasons. 1) We integrate with the smartphone you already have on you. 2) The asynchronous communication, as you said, allows for less miscommunication. Plus, with delivery confirmation receipts you KNOW it didn't just disappear into the void somewhere, and was actually received by your intended recipient(s). 3) You can direct the m…

What 'offline maps' are available? Something built into the gotenna app, the device's native mapping app, or something else?
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