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<li class="nav-item nav-item-this"><a href="">Building Networks</a></li>
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<div class="section" id="building-networks">
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<span id="networks-main"></span><h1>Building Networks<a class="headerlink" href="#building-networks" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
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<p>This chapter will provide you with the knowledge needed to build networks with
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Reticulum, which can often be easier than using traditional stacks, since you
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don’t have to worry about coordinating addresses, subnets and routing for an
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entire network that you might not know how will evolve in the future. With
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Reticulum, you can simply add more segments to your network when it becomes
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necesarry, and Reticulum will handle the convergence of the entire network
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automatically.</p>
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<div class="section" id="concepts-overview">
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<h2>Concepts & Overview<a class="headerlink" href="#concepts-overview" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>There are important points that need to be kept in mind when building networks
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with Reticulum:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<div><ul>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">In a Reticulum network, any node can autonomously generate as many adresses
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(called <em>destinations</em> in Reticulum terminology) as it needs, which become
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globally reachable to the rest of the network. There is no central point of
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control over the adress space.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">Reticulum was designed to handle both very small, and very large networks.
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While the adress space can support billions of endpoints, Reticulum is
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also very useful when just a few devices needs to communicate.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">Low-bandwidth networks, like LoRa and packet radio, can interoperate and
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interconnect with much larger and higher bandwidth networks without issue.
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Reticulum automatically manages the flow of information to and from various
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network segments, and when bandwidth is limited, local traffic is prioritised.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">Reticulum provides sender/initiator anonymity by default. There is no way
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to filter traffic or discriminate it based on the source of the traffic.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">All traffic is encrypted using ephemeral keys generated by an Elliptic Curve
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Diffie-Hellman key exchange on Curve25519. There is no way to inspect traffic
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contents, and no way to prioritise or throttle certain kinds of traffic.
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All transport and routing layers are thus completely agnostic to traffic type,
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and will pass all traffic equally.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">Reticulum can function both with and without infrastructure. When <em>transport
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nodes</em> are available, they can route traffic over multiple hops for other
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nodes, and will function as a distributed cryptographic keystore. When there
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is no transport nodes available, all nodes that are within communication range
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can still communicate.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">Every node can become a transport node, simply by enabling it in it’s
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configuration, but there is no need for every node on the network to be a
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transport node. Letting every node be a transport node will in most cases
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degrade the performance and reliability of the network.</div>
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</div>
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<blockquote>
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<div><p><em>In general terms, if a node is stationary, well-connected and kept running
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most of the time, it is a good candidate to be a transport node. For optimal
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performance, a network should contain the amount of transport nodes that
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provides connectivity to the intended area / topography, and not many more
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than that.</em></p>
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</div></blockquote>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">Reticulum is designed to work reliably in open, trustless environments. This
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means you can use it to create open-access networks, where participants can
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join and leave in an free and unorganised manner. This property allows an
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entirely new, and so far, mostly unexplored class of networked applications,
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where networks, and the information flow within them can form and dissolve
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organically.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li><div class="line-block">
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<div class="line">You can just as easily create closed networks, since Reticulum allows you to
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add authentication to any interface. This means you can restrict access on
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any interface type, even when using legacy devices, such as modems. You can
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also mix authenticated and open interfaces on the same system. See the
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<a class="reference internal" href="interfaces.html#interfaces-options"><span class="std std-ref">Common Interface Options</span></a> section of the <a class="reference internal" href="interfaces.html#interfaces-main"><span class="std std-ref">Interfaces</span></a>
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chapter of this manual for information on how to set up interface authentication.</div>
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</div>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</div></blockquote>
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<p>Reticulum allows you to mix very different kinds of networking mediums into a
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unified mesh, or to keep everything within one medium. You could build a “virtual
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network” running entirely over the Internet, where all nodes communicate over TCP
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and UDP “channels”. You could also build such a network using other already-established
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communications channels as the underlying carrier for Reticulum.</p>
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<p>However, most real-world networks will probably involve either some form of
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wireless or direct hardline communications. To allow Reticulum to communicate
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over any type of medium, you must specify it in the configuration file, by default
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located at <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~/.reticulum/config</span></code>. See the <a class="reference internal" href="interfaces.html#interfaces-main"><span class="std std-ref">Supported Interfaces</span></a>
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chapter of this manual for interface configuration examples.</p>
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<p>Any number of interfaces can be configured, and Reticulum will automatically
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decide which are suitable to use in any given situation, depending on where
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traffic needs to flow.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="example-scenarios">
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<h2>Example Scenarios<a class="headerlink" href="#example-scenarios" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>This section illustrates a few example scenarios, and how they would, in general
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terms, be planned, implemented and configured.</p>
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<div class="section" id="interconnected-lora-sites">
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<h3>Interconnected LoRa Sites<a class="headerlink" href="#interconnected-lora-sites" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
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<p>An organisation wants to provide communication and information services to it’s
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members, which are located mainly in three separate areas. Three suitable hill-top
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locations are found, where the organisation can install equipment: Site A, B and C.</p>
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<p>Since the amount of data that needs to be exchanged between users is mainly text-
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based, the bandwidth requirements are low, and LoRa radios are chosen to connect
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users to the network.</p>
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<p>Due to the hill-top locations found, there is radio line-of-sight between site A
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and B, and also between site B and C. Because of this, the organisation does not
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need to use the Internet to interconnect the sites, but purchases four Point-to-Point
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WiFi based radios for interconnecting the sites.</p>
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<p>At each site, a Raspberry Pi is installed to function as a gateway. A LoRa radio
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is connected to the Pi with a USB cable, and the WiFi radio is connected to the
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ethernet port of the Pi. At site B, two WiFi radios are needed to be able to reach
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both site A and site C, so an extra ethernet adapter is connected to the Pi in
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this location.</p>
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<p>Once the hardware has been installed, Reticulum is installed on all the Pis, and at
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site A and C, one interface is added for the LoRa radio, as well as one for the WiFi
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radio. At site B, an interface for the LoRa radio, and one interface for each WiFi
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radio is added to the Reticulum configuration file. The transport node option is
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enabled in the configuration of all three gateways.</p>
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<p>The network is now operational, and ready to serve users across all three areas.
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The organisation prepares a LoRa radio that is supplied to the end users, along
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with a Reticulum configuration file, that contains the right parameters for
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communicating with the LoRa radios installed at the gateway sites.</p>
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<p>Once users connect to the network, anyone will be able to communicate with anyone
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else across all three sites.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="bridging-over-the-internet">
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<h3>Bridging Over the Internet<a class="headerlink" href="#bridging-over-the-internet" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
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<p>As the organisation grows, several new communities form in places too far away
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from the core network to be reachable over WiFi links. New gateways similar to those
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previously installed are set up for the new communities at the new sites D and E, but
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they are islanded from the core network, and only serve the local users.</p>
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<p>After investigating the options, it is found that it is possible to install an
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Internet connection at site A, and an interface on the Internet connection is
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configured for Reticulum on the Raspberry Pi at site A.</p>
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<p>A member of the organisation at site D, named Dori, is willing to help by sharing
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the Internet connection she already has in her home, and is able to leave a Raspberry
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Pi running. A new Reticulum interface is configured on her Pi, connecting to the newly
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enabled Internet interface on the gateway at site A. Dori is now connected to both
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all the nodes at her own local site (through the hill-top LoRa gateway), and all the
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combined users of sites A, B and C. She then enables transport on her node, and
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traffic from site D can now reach everyone at site A, B and C, and vice versa.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="growth-and-convergence">
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<h3>Growth and Convergence<a class="headerlink" href="#growth-and-convergence" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
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<p>As the organisation grows, more gateways are added to keep up with the growing user
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base. Some local gateways even add VHF radios and packet modems to reach outlying users
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and communities that are out of reach for the LoRa radios and WiFi backhauls.</p>
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<p>As more sites, gateways and users are connected, the amount of coordination required
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is kept to a minimum. If one community wants to add connectivity to the next one
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over, it can simply be done without having to involve everyone or coordinate address
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space or routing tables.</p>
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<p>With the added geographical coverage, the operators at site A one day find that
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the original internet bridged interfaces are no longer utilised. The network has
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converged to be completely self-connected, and the sites that were once poorly
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connected outliers are now an integral part of the network.</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
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<h3><a href="index.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Building Networks</a><ul>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#concepts-overview">Concepts & Overview</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#example-scenarios">Example Scenarios</a><ul>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#interconnected-lora-sites">Interconnected LoRa Sites</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#bridging-over-the-internet">Bridging Over the Internet</a></li>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#growth-and-convergence">Growth and Convergence</a></li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<h4>Previous topic</h4>
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<p class="topless"><a href="using.html"
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title="previous chapter">Using Reticulum on Your System</a></p>
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<h4>Next topic</h4>
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<p class="topless"><a href="interfaces.html"
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title="next chapter">Supported Interfaces</a></p>
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