Design for a disconnected world
Samizdat Mesh explores communication when fixed infrastructure is unavailable or untrustworthy. The transport model accepts long delays: movement through physical space takes the place of an always-connected network.
A stationary node stores messages. A mobile relay carried by a person or vehicle exchanges messages with nearby nodes and carries them to another location. An optional sink bridges the mesh to internet services, but the local store-and-forward design does not require that bridge.
Make brief encounters useful
The hardware design uses ESP32 devices and ESP-NOW for local exchanges. An NFC interface provides a way to interact with a stationary node. Set reconciliation helps peers work out which messages they are missing without resending everything they already share.
Content addressing gives a message a stable identity for deduplication and integrity checks. Signatures attach verifiable origin information to content. Those properties matter when messages pass through devices that may never be online at the same time.
Availability has a different meaning here
This is a delay-tolerant design, so delivery depends on encounters, movement, storage, and power. It does not promise instant delivery or a continuously reachable recipient. Battery life and opportunistic exchange are core engineering concerns.
The useful question is what communication remains possible under those constraints. Separating local message exchange from an optional internet bridge makes it possible to explore that question on inexpensive, physically distributed hardware.