Domain COM

Connections and messages

Start here · Questions · Progress · People decide

Move the right information through available paths and show clearly when a message has reached its next person.

Question	What we are working out	AI-generated potential answers and research	Work state
COM-01	What information must each type of connection carry, how quickly should it arrive, who can send it and how will receipt be confirmed?	AI-generated option: Give each information class a clear journey: urgent checked notices, help requests, equipment status, maps and richer media. Set size and delay targets before choosing links. Treat saved, transported, received, accepted and acted-on as separate states, with sender authority and privacy attached to each record. AI-generated future concept: Design one signed information record with text, audio and richer spatial layers. A local Aura could choose the layer that fits available power and bandwidth while retaining common identity, issue time, meaning and receipt status. Research examples: How to prepare: nbn and emergency events · Starlink Mini specification sheet, pages 3 and 8	open
COM-02	How should kiosks and devices that pass messages between them connect so each settlement can still receive useful information when a link or major device fails?	AI-generated option: Compare one well-supported hub with several independently useful settlement nodes. Give each node local information and queued records, then add measured radio links and more than one uplink route where feasible. Include a person carrying checked updates when every electronic path is unavailable. AI-generated future concept: Explore agreed service vehicles or future cargo robots carrying encrypted update bundles between settlements. A route planner could suggest transfers while custodians confirm safe journeys and the software exposes the age of each carried record. Research examples: How to prepare: nbn and emergency events · Starlink Mini specification sheet, pages 3 and 8	open
COM-03	Where should antennas, links to the wider network and cables go so they work well, can be maintained and suit the site's weather conditions?	AI-generated option: Select antenna positions from measured paths, structural assessment and maintainable cable routes. Compare a lower protected mounting with a higher exposed option, including sky view for satellite and a reviewed withdrawal plan. Treat connectors, earthing and surge protection as part of the installation. AI-generated future concept: Develop a low-height stowable antenna arrangement with position sensing and manual recovery. A future Aura could explain the expected coverage change when stowed, based on earlier measurements rather than assuming continued high-level coverage. Research examples: How to prepare: nbn and emergency events · Class licences for radiocommunications	open
COM-04	What will each connection carry, and how will records wait, retry and combine after an outage while keeping different reports visible?	AI-generated option: Use durable queues with stable record identities, visible issue times and explicit update or cancellation references. Reconnection should preserve conflicting observations for review rather than silently replacing one. Compare retry schedules and transport sizes while protecting essential traffic from media or bulk sensor uploads. AI-generated future concept: Develop an Aura-assisted planner that sends essential structured records first and requests rich supporting material later. It could highlight contradictory road observations with their sources and dates while an authorised person decides the public update. Research examples: Common Alerting Protocol Version 1.2 · Meshtastic encryption	open
COM-05	How will a kiosk without internet check who is authorised to issue, change or withdraw a notice, including when a device or security key has been compromised?	AI-generated option: Separate transport encryption from authority to publish. Give each authorised issuer a bounded role and signing identity, with offline-verifiable records, expiry and a planned withdrawal path. Show uncertainty when the kiosk cannot confirm current authority, while retaining the issuer's original wording and source reference. AI-generated future concept: Explore short-lived publication delegation for an Aura acting within a named person's or organisation's mandate. The signed record would preserve the delegator, permitted subjects, expiry and review trail, with clear public labelling of assisted drafting. Research examples: Meshtastic encryption · NIST's IoT Cybersecurity Capabilities Catalog	open
COM-06	Which sensors will help people make a useful decision, and how will we check their accuracy, age, location, failures and permission to share?	AI-generated option: Start with sensors tied to decisions: battery reserve, cabinet temperature, water entry and link health. Add local environmental observations only when someone can maintain, interpret and act on them. Keep measured, estimated and simulated values distinct, with location, age, calibration and fault status visible. AI-generated future concept: Develop an Aura that compares redundant sensors, model predictions and human observations, then proposes a maintenance check when they diverge. Future robotic inspection could supply another labelled observation rather than silently turning a prediction into a fact. Research examples: Oyster3 GPS asset tracker · Cerbo GX manual: configuration	open
COM-07	How will people find information, ask for help and check whether a message arrived when mobile service, internet or their own phone is unavailable?	AI-generated option: Provide several routes to the same essential information: kiosk controls, local Wi-Fi on a person's device, assisted access and a dated paper notice. Keep saved requests visible through disconnection, with separate confirmation when a responsible receiving service actually accepts them and an agreed immediate-danger route. AI-generated future concept: Let a chosen personal Aura carry a minimal encrypted task between a phone, kiosk and assisted station. People without a profile or device would retain the same public information and a practical human help route. Research examples: Community hubs with energy backup systems · D.D.A. guide: The ins and outs of access	open
COM-08	How will people and maintainers see whether a kiosk, connection, sensor, notice or request is current, working, waiting or uncertain?	AI-generated option: Show people what the station can do now, when its information last changed and which messages are waiting. Give maintainers a separate detail view of links, queue age, battery and faults. When time is uncertain, preserve the last trusted check and explain uncertainty plainly. AI-generated future concept: Develop an Aura view that explains dependencies in everyday words: local notices available, mainland connection waiting, next check due. XR could help maintainers trace a fault while public users receive the same essential status in text or audio. Research examples: NIST's IoT Cybersecurity Capabilities Catalog · Cerbo GX manual: configuration	open
COM-09	What parts, saved settings, security access, tools and trained people will let us replace a device or repair a connection while the island is isolated?	AI-generated option: Prepare replaceable, labelled network modules with verified settings, protected recovery credentials and compatible spares. Practise restoring one failed node without the normal maintainer or internet. Record the newly installed identity and check queued messages, publisher permissions and public status before calling the service restored. AI-generated future concept: Use a local twin to practise replacement and show the technician exactly which settings differ. A future assistant could prepare the configuration and checklist, while the authorised maintainer verifies the physical device and its observed network behaviour. Research examples: How to prepare: nbn and emergency events · NIST's IoT Cybersecurity Capabilities Catalog	open
COM-10	What field exercises will show that messages reach the right places, at useful speeds, and recover after several things fail together?	AI-generated option: Build a repeatable field exercise that measures useful message delivery through combined failures, rather than signal bars alone. Test busy traffic, isolated settlements, a failed hub, one-way links, satellite loss and low energy, then reconcile updates and requests with all original meanings intact. AI-generated future concept: Let AI/SI propose failure combinations and compare alternative routes in a network twin before people choose physical tests. Future robotics could carry an exercise data bundle on a supervised safe route to measure mobile continuity. Research examples: Mallacoota Area Grid Storage community updates · How to prepare: nbn and emergency events	open