[url= infowar ]
Was there not a story this year about aerial-drones being deployed capable of
putting up a wifi network? (We're doing it for the moon, so it must
be easy.)
Anyways, that got me thinking. How does the internet work? And, can a
small band of rebel fighter keep their intertubes working during a conflict?
.
It would be easier to take an introductory networking guide, since the best explanation I could give to answer your questions would be about 150 pages long...
I hope someone else can summarize a lot better.
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As MJ said, this isn't easy to explain without spending the next day or two explaining the things you'll need to know in order to understand the explanation ;)
So, if the techies amongst us can please forgive me for skipping details and getting down to the nitty-gritty:
How does the internet work?
Basically, it's a gigantic mesh of nodes across the globe, communicating with one another. Most of us with connections attach to one of those nodes, which then relay traffic throughout that mesh. You can also envisage it in abstract form as a giant network of roads, with a number of main highways (the high-speed "backbone" connections of the Internet), and smaller roads.
In every country, there'll be a number of nodes that are known to connect outside the country to nodes in other countries, thus connecting that country to the Internet. If a government wants to, they can simply cut the connections (either physically or metaphorically) at those known points, and suddenly their part of the Internet is unable to communicate with any other. China, for example, has the infamous "Great Firewall of China" which rather than cutting that connection filters all of the traffic going in and out to prevent citizens accessing sites that government have deemed unsuitable for access.
So, cut all the outside connections, and you isolate a country. In theory.
In practice, there's always workarounds - not every connection is physical. You can set up a ground-based antenna and bounce your internet access signal off a satellite, for example. In the case of filtering, you can find ways to "bounce" your connection off other points that you do have access to.
That small band of rebel fighters? All they need is a friendly foreign government interested in them winning to get them a little suitcase with comms equipment and a satellite dish along with the inevitable arms shipment.
Probably best to avoid the aerial drones - too easy to shoot them down, and you likely risk giving away your position.
Basically, it's a gigantic mesh of nodes across the globe, communicating with one another. Most of us with connections attach to one of those nodes, which then relay traffic throughout that mesh. You can also envisage it in abstract form as a giant network of roads, with a number of main highways (the high-speed "backbone" connections of the Internet), and smaller roads.
Or, as put someone infinitely wiser than any of us:
"It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes."-Ted Stevens
It seems using a flock of mechanical-drones may not the best way to
instantiate a contingent network for a small band of rebel forces. But,
maybe attaching the electrical communication components to pigeons and
launching 10-20 at a time could work.
Various locations can house 100's of birds. By only releasing the minimum
number necessary, at one time, for uninterrupted communications the pigeon's casualty rate
can be curtailed.
.
streaming-video appears to be unsupportable by rfc1149