Hi,
I recently started exploring goTenna Mesh and I saw that the device will basically start relaying every message once it’s turned on (according to How to setup a stationary relay node?).
Is there a way to allow nodes to relay only messages from a specific GID? Will this feature be different on the goTenna Pro?
Thanks
No. That would negate the benefit of a community-driven mesh network. A mesh unit will only relay a message if necessary (example. For three devices that are all in range of each other, the message will go directly from the sender to the receiving unit. It won’t relay through the third Mesh).
Mesh is the whole point of this version. Use the old version and there is no meshing, it uses a better frequency, and it has more power. I wouldn’t worry about passing other peoples traffic anyway. With this being digital traffic it shouldn’t drain your battery all that much unless you walk into a Gotenna convention.
You should keep in mind you will benefit when your messages are relayed through other peoples nodes so it’s good to return the favor.
Thank you for your answers. I am interested in a specific scenario where I could possibly create a, say, private mesh, and use different forwarding strategies.
The private messages are secured better then many peoples WiFi traffic. There was recently a breach in many WiFi routers that has not been fixed on many.
The protocol and forwarding strategies are in the hardware. The app(s) basically throw a request to the hardware that says “Tell GID 7 I said ‘Ow!’” and the hardware takes care of the rest. In other words, there’s no (documented) way to play with forwarding strategies without rewriting/reflashing firmware. You can read about the Aspen Grove protocol here: About goTenna but the most interesting bit is this:
In the case of goTenna Mesh, the process starts with initial discovery. A user sends a message out in all directions with the intention of finding the intended recipient (or IR). If the IR is not in range, a burst broadcast goes to all other devices in range, essentially asking if anyone local knows the whereabouts of the IR.
Once a relaying goTenna Mesh confirms that it can reach the IR, the path to the IR will be defined and remembered, so messages between the original sender and the IR will follow the same path (again, the optimal path with the fewest number of hops). The networking protocols built into goTenna Mesh — which we’ve named Aspen Grove — will also actively avoid interference and obstructions by finding an alternate path if the established route is compromised.