The Serval Project Wiki

This wiki provides resources for developers and users of The Serval Project. If you have any suggestions for content to be included in the Wiki, please contact wikiadmin [at] servalproject.org.

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• How to report a bug – we appreciate you taking the trouble, please read this to make your effort count
• Contact the Serval Project – how to reach a real person
• Current activity – projects, grants and initiatives – units of work in progress and completed
• Technology roadmap – what we have built, are building, would like to build, and will not build
• Publications and reports – publications, external reports and internal white-papers
• Development – hardware, software, UI, testing, documentation… how the Serval Project builds things
• Wiki editing policy – how to contribute to this Wiki

Serval Mesh is an Android app that provides highly secure mesh networking, voice calls, text messaging and file sharing between mobile phones using Wi-Fi, without the need for a SIM or any other infrastructure like mobile cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots or Internet access.

• Serval Mesh general information – download, install, documentation, release history
• Serval Mesh development – copyright, source code, technical documentation, testing, release procedure, issue tracking
• Supported Devices – supported Android phones and devices
• Serval DNA (core component) – general information
• Serval DNA development – copyright, source code and branching, technical documentation, testing, issue tracking

Serval Chat is an iOS app that provides highly secure text messaging between Apple iPhone and iPad devices using Apple's proprietary peer-to-peer wireless network.

• for the time being, Serval Chat does not communicate with the Serval Mesh app for Android or the Serval Mesh Extender

Serval Maps is an Android app that uses Serval Mesh to provide collaborative, infrastructure-independent, geographical mapping.

The Serval Mesh Extender is a hardware device that helps other devices to join and participate in a Serval Mesh network.

The Second-Generation Mesh Extenders are the current generation of Mesh Extender hardware, and continue to be under active development.

• powered by external USB, 12v/24v automotive and/or solar (with MTTP tracking charge controller)
• Integrated LiFEPO4/LiIon/Sealed-Lead-Acid battery charger
• Custom-designed injection-moulded housing
• Designed to meet IP66 environmental resistance
• Integrated “Mesh of Things”/“Internet of Things” I/O port
• microSD card for bulk storage (reduced power consumption versus USB)
• Wi-Fi access point (for devices to connect) and ad-hoc Wi-Fi (between Mesh Extenders)
• RFD900/RFD868 UHF packet radio (up to 4km range line-of-sight, ~200m indoors)
• Interface to Codan/Barrett HF Radios for very-long-range communications links (support for other radios is also possible)
• provides a standard Wi-Fi Access Point for nearby devices (such as smart phones) that do not support Ad Hoc Wi-Fi mode
• offers the Serval Mesh (app for Android) app for Android for download via HTTP so that people can join the Mesh network without having previously installed the app
• acts as a Rhizome node, storing and forwarding files and MeshMS messages
• Fully interoperable with first generation Mesh Extenders

The earlier phase of development was based around TP-Link MR3020 wireless routers, and is now fully deprecated. For people wanting to build a Mesh Extender compatible device, they should refer to the second-generation Mesh Extender documentation above, as it is possible to build a compatible device using a GL-INET AR150 wireless router, which is superior in all ways to the TP-LINK MR3020, not the least being that the GL-INET devices have an open boot-loader, a proper header for the onboard UART, four times the flash, and twice the RAM.

• powered by any external USB power source (5V 500mA)
• Mesh Extenders mesh together over short distances using Ad Hoc Wi-Fi, and over longer distances using packet radio on the ISM 915 MHz band. Our ad-hoc packet radio system uses the RFD900 long-range UHF radio with custom CSMA firmware.
• provides a standard Wi-Fi Access Point for nearby devices (such as smart phones) that do not support Ad Hoc Wi-Fi mode
• offers the Serval Mesh (app for Android) app for Android for download via HTTP so that people can join the Mesh network without having previously installed the app
• acts as a Rhizome node, storing and forwarding files and MeshMS messages
• provides a platform for future Serval Project initiatives, such as the commoditisation of many classes of medical monitoring devices.

The following link explains our method to get a DreamCatcher working : Dreamcatcher

The following is a list of past and planned trial deployments and related activities.

• Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary Demonstrator July 2010
• Nigeria InterNews Trial Jan 2011
• KiwiEx 2012 with NZ Red Cross Feb/March 2012
• KiwiEx 2013 with NZ Red Cross, New America OTI/Commotion and NLnet Foundation Feb/March 2013