It is now almost exactly two years since we made the first public demonstration of the Serval Project’s vision for keeping mobile phones working without cellular networks or infrastructure, and it seems right to recap where we have come in the past year.


A year ago, the software was still more or less the same as was demonstrated in the video linked above in mid-2010.

Support

Support for the project consisted of initial seed funding from the Awesome Foundation, and a generous research fellowship from Flinders University, that freed up the majority of my time to focus on the project.  The project then received a further significant boost with my being granted a Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship.

Dr. Paul Gardner-Stephen in South Africa, while meeting with the Shuttleworth Foundation.

This combination of University and foundation support has proved to be amazingly effective.  The University has provided facilities to accommodate the project, and access to a variety of expertise and relevant research interests, especially in the disaster research space, where Flinders University is particularly active and well respected internationally.  The Shuttleworth Foundation has provided the financial means to free up all of my time to focus on the project, as well as employ developers and other resources to allow the project to drive forward much more quickly than would otherwise have been possible, and to enable me to keep some focus on the big picture, instead of having to do all the technical work myself.  Both organisations have the public interest at heart, and have been particularly accommodating of the unusual nature of the project, and so the relationship has worked much better than I had even hoped.  This is something of which I am continually grateful.

Technology

Further resources were added due to support by the Open Technology Initiative‘s Commotion Project, which is focussed around resilient communications systems to protect against human rights violations and what might be generally called “politically induced disasters” as compared to natural disasters.


Using these resources, the Serval Project has set about transforming the proof-of-concept demonstration software of 2010 into a production quality system.  This has resulted in near complete replacement of every component.

Instead of using Asterisk and SIPdroid for voice calls we have implemented our own mesh-oriented voice protocol and programs, resulting in a much smaller, faster program.

The underlying mesh network that allows the phones to communicate directly with one another, and to relay calls and data for one another has been redesigned and reimplemented from the ground up, with high-grade security baked right in.

The Rhizome store-and-forward data service has been created, and then rewritten to take advantage of the new mesh implementation.  MeshMS (Mesh-based SMS) has in turn be reimplemented to make use of Rhizome, and has been demonstrated delivering a message between Africa and Australia, using nothing more than three mobile telephones.

The user interface has been completely redesigned and reimplemented, to give a much more integrated user experience.

Screen-shot from a nightly build of the next planned release of the Serval Mesh, featuring redesigned user interface.

Increasing Recognition

The Serval Project was one of 11 finalists in the Ashoka Change Makers Citizen Media competition.

The Serval Project was one of the top-100 innovations named in the Netexplo list of 2012.

Increasing Collaboration & Impact

Members of a community in Nigeria familiarise themselves with the Serval Mesh software.

Emergency Operations Centre at KiwiEx’12, where Serval Mesh technology was trialled.

Summary

Just a quick post to show the latest development code of the Serval Mesh running an encrypted phone call on some low-end handsets, and keeping comfortably below 50% CPU:

Hi all,

Here are a few screenshots from the nightly builds of what will likely become Serval Mesh 0.90 in a couple of months time:

The main display when running the mesh.  The number at the bottom is your mesh telephone number.  If you provide a display name, it also shows there.

This is where you setup your mesh telephone number and provide your name, to make it easier for people to find you on the mesh.

The “Contacts” button on the main display gives you the choice of showing who is currently on the mesh, or showing who is in your Android contacts.  The Android contacts can now have mesh contact details, to make it easy to call or text via the mesh from the Android contacts.

Showing the current contact list gives you the details of any phones on the mesh, as well as their  secure identifier (SID).  You can call, text, or add them to your Android contact list.  Names are displayed instead of numbers when available.  The “Broadcast/Everyone” option lets you send text messages to everyone on the mesh, as a simple kind of group chat or micro-blogging service.  This will be refined into an off-grid Twitter-like system in a future release.

The last quarter has been quite an exciting one from our perspective, although much of the excitement has not been externally visible.  So here are some of the highlights that you may or may not already be aware of.

Version 0.08 Released

The most notable visible progress has been the release today (27 June 2012) of version 0.08 of Serval Mesh to the Android Market / Google Play.  This is primarily a bug-fix and minor-enhancement release while we finish drawing together a whole pile of work that has been going on behind-the-scenes that will show up in the next version, version 0.90.  The jump in version numbers should give you a clue as to how significant we think the next version will be, so lets have a look at the contrast and what is being planned.

Preparations for Version 0.90 – Switching From Architecting To Integration

Version 0.08 is a direct descendent of the initial proof-of-concept that launched the Serval Project back in mid-2010.  The bulk of the work in this past quarter has been preparing the reengineered “production” functionality of Serval.  In the last week or so we have reached the point where the bulk of effort is now going into integration of the various components, shaking out the bugs and finding the outstanding tasks that need to be done to make it all work seamlessly together.  This is a very encouraging and exciting stage for the team as we see the hard work over the past year or so come together to make something that we think will be compellingly useful for many people.

To get an idea of the scope of work that has been undertaken, let us summarise a number of the properties of version 0.08 (the most recent proof-of-concept derived release), and then compare this with the reengineered work.  First, version 0.08:

• It requires root permissions to operate, because it needs ad-hoc WiFi to provide end-to-end network paths for the mesh routing protocols. 
• It relies on BATMAN or OLSRd for mesh routing over ad-hoc WiFi. 
• It has no encryption or authentication of calls.
• It includes a complete installation of Asterisk to do the PBX/VoIP call routing. 
• It includes an entire SIP client that talks to the Asterisk installation.  
• It can only operate on IP networks. 
• It has only a prototype of the Rhizome store-and-forward mesh file sharing service. 
• It relies on 3rd-party applications to send or receive MeshMS (SMS) messages over the mesh.
• It has a rather awkward user interface.
• It has no APIs for interaction with other applications.

In contrast, Version 0.90 will include a pile of reimplemented and new functionality that will make for a  totally transformed product and experience:

• It will not require root permissions, removing the single greatest barrier to adoption.
• It will include its’ own mesh routing engine that can operate over access-point and client mode WiFi, and deliver MeshMS and files even under highly partitioned network conditions.
• It will offer robust end-to-end encryption of voice, MeshMS and, later, of files over the mesh. A later version will also include simple and effective protection against man-in-the-middle attacks.
• It will include its own VoIP over Mesh protocol (VoMP), that is light weight and avoids the need to include Asterisk and a SIP client.  This has allowed us to shave 60% off the application size (about 2MB instead of 5MB), and increase responsiveness and speed significantly, even while adding in end-to-end encryption.
• It will be able to use non-IP transports, e.g., packet radio, carrier pigeons carrying memory sticks and almost any other digital data carrier to synchronise data between meshes.
• It will include the new low-latency and auto-prioritising reimplementation of the Rhizome store-and-forward data distribution service.
• It includes it’s own MeshMS client, removing the need for external SMS handling applications: one APK provides all services.
• It will include a completely redesigned and reimplemented user-interface.
• It will include APIs to allow interaction with the mesh, and use of mesh services by other applications.

All of these features are nearing completion and being integrated ready for release as version 0.90 sometime in the coming quarter.  Significant and intense progress has been made, and the various features are now beginning to come together, and the work is increasingly focussing on integration and whole-of-system behaviour, rather than on completing the individual components.

Together, they constitute a useful product, one that we will be able to demonstrate to various potential partners and even paying customers who are looking for custom mesh services, making Serval well and away the clear leader in mesh telephony.

Continued Interaction With New Zealand Red Cross

Following our participation as observers at KiwiEx 2012, we have continued to nurture and develop our relationship with the New Zealand Red Cross IT&Telecommunications Emergency Response Unit (IT&T ERU).  As a result we are addressing the specific requirements and refinements that they have identified as being necessary to make Serval useful for themselves and the broader humanitarian and emergency response sector.

Presentation to UN Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications (UN WGET)

On-Going Work With OTI/Commotion Project

It is the little things, the things that don’t matter, that are really the big things, and the things that matter.  


This is doubly true if you are unable to live in your own home any longer, and are dependent on supported care of some sort.  

Old Woman Feeding Birds (Image by soylentgreen23 http://flickr.com/photos/94032388@N00/491093601)

While often necessary, such care risks removing all the things that really matter in life. I still remember when my own grandmother was old and frail, and had to move into supported care.  For 83 years she was used to a life outdoors, with the fresh air and sunshine.  What she wanted most was to be able to open a window and let the sunshine in, or potter outside in the garden, or smuggle more cheese cubes to the stray cats that used to visit the nursing home.


But she basically had to live in a very comfortable hotel room, but which she found very oppressive given her life experience.  Apart from being part of the underground railroad for the feline dairy supply, I still remember that the last “good day” that she had was when we busted her out for a day and took her blackberry picking in the hills, something that was a regular part of her independent life. It wasn’t “medically sensible” and it wasn’t “necessary”, but gee whiz, it really mattered to her, and that’s what matters.


Since then I have been thinking on and off about how to break down the feeling of being trapped and encased in an institution, so that we can rehumanise and reconnect older people’s lives with the world around them.


I have been talking with some people in health care about making some sort of holodeck for residential care facilities to help improve their resident’s quality of life.  


It seems that the technology is there to make something fairly affordable, that would allow some interactivity, and sufficient suspension of disbelief that it might be worth exploring.

The initial model I am thinking of is one of having some cameras at a nice location, most likely a sea-side spot somewhere.  These record video and audio in several directions so that a view of the scene can be projected into a “holodeck” that provides an immersive sense of being there.  We might even use fans to generate wind with matched speed and direction as is actually occurring at the location. I am sure the Eurovision Clearance Store must have plenty.

Rather than a loop that fails to suspend disbelief, having a real live feed makes the experience much richer, and also allows for more interesting interactivity.  


First, we can pipe video and sound both directions, so that someone approaching the camera site would see an old person in a room listening to the waves, who might notice them as they approach, and then they could have a chat if they wished.  


Second, the natural cadence of the scene with less interesting bits and more interesting bits adds the variety that makes life worthwhile.  Showing once-in-a-century shots like blue whales swallowing sharks, and the same amazing purple sunset are counterproductive, because they are overstimulating.  It is the subtleness and realness that matter, and that make the connection believable.

A fun interactivity booster would be to add a seagull food launching device, that fired (nutritionally balanced) seagull food whenever the person threw a (possibly synthetic) chip at the wall, so that they could experience the interactive pleasure of feeding seagulls and watching them wheel and crane overhead, and catch the specially
formulated seagull food mid-flight, and generally enjoy a sense of escape from their institution.


Finding a way to synthesise sea-side smell would also add tremendously, because smell is such an evoker of memories.  Indeed, the smell centre of our brains is the most directly wired sense, and can cause such strong and immediate reactions.

Obviously these holodecks could be setup in all sorts of places, and with a variety of location appropriate interactivity diverse, e.g., feeding ducks by a pond, or a sitting on a “digital park bench” to feed pigeons and talk to people who sit next to them in the real world.  They could be moved around, as well.


Ultimately, they may provide a key part of the quality of life of people in residential care, as well as to help stop them being a population who are hidden inside institutional walls, invisible to a society who would otherwise be willing to say hello, and help them maintain some connection with outside society.

It seems to me that a prototype of this could be created fairly easily and without excessive cost, and that there are probably all the skills in a typical geek/maker community necessary to make it happen.  


I don’t have funds for the project now, or the time to do it all myself, but if we made a prototype, I think we might be in a good position to secure funds, whether from governments, arts councils or various other sources to make more and/or better ones to help more people.

Anyone interested in seeing how much fun and how rewarding this could be, or know anyone who might be?