Pirate box relays + meshnet

I don't really have a lot of knowledge about this sort of stuff at the moment so I don't understand the limitations or how the current pirate boxes work. But here is a concept I thought about that may or may not work:


link in case the image doesn't show up

I was thinking what if we could make it so that all of the pirate boxes within range of each other link together and share their file names(but not the files them selves), creating one big list of data for the user who connects to one of the hotspots. Then it relays data to the user if they are not within range of the particular device that is hosting that piece of data.

For example:

Say there are two devices running pirate box in range of each other, both with different content.

Now say the user Bob is in range of Node1, which is connected to Node2. Node2 shares it's file names and information with Node1, which then displays it to Bob. Bob then decides he wants to download a large file from Node2. Node1 then relays the file to Bob.

In theory, we can create pockets of large dynamic pirate box networks in this fashion.

Hey,

there are implementations for meshed PB networks and tests were also done, it works on a beta level. The major problem is that there is only 1 wifi chip per (cheap) device which means that running AP mode (client connections) + an ad-hoc network (box-to-box connection) reduces transfer rates by a lot.

You can read about this test feature here: http://piratebox.aod-rpg.de/dokuwiki/doku.php/mesh/introduction