Mesh Redundancy and Self-Healing
Multi-Path Routing, Replication, and Fault Detection Layer
Software layer providing fault detection, multi-path routing, bundle replication, and automatic mesh topology repair so that the mesh continues operating after node failures, link degradations, and partition events.
Purpose
Guarantee mesh availability over the 100-year mission lifetime despite radiation-induced node failures, dust contamination, mechanical losses (robot drops out), and topology changes from new asset additions.
Context
Cross-cuts all mesh nodes; cooperates with L3-COM-MESH-ROUT for path selection and L3-COM-MESH-SYNC for state replication. Implements heartbeat monitoring, exponential-backoff retry, and erasure-coded bundle replication for high-priority traffic.
Principles
- ▸Multi-path routing forwards copies of high-priority bundles along disjoint paths — increases probability of delivery at cost of bandwidth
- ▸Heartbeat / liveness detection via periodic keep-alive beacons; missed N beacons → node declared 'unreachable'
- ▸Erasure coding (Reed-Solomon, fountain codes like RaptorQ) lets receiver reconstruct from any k of n fragments — bandwidth-efficient replication
- ▸Self-healing topology: when a link fails, neighboring nodes adjust their routing tables and may activate dormant backup nodes
- ▸Quorum-based decisions for safety-critical mesh actions (e.g., reactor shutdown command must reach quorum of nodes)
- ▸Reactive routing (AODV-style) discovers paths on-demand; proactive routing maintains current topology — hybrid often used
Typical implementations
- ▸B.A.T.M.A.N. (Better Approach To Mobile Ad-hoc Networking) — used for ground mesh systems
- ▸AODV (Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector) — IETF standard reactive routing
- ▸OLSR (Optimized Link State Routing) — proactive ad-hoc routing
- ▸ION DTN supports multi-path forwarding and custody transfer for redundancy
- ▸RaptorQ (RFC 6330) fountain code used in mobile networks and 3GPP MBMS
- ▸Spacecraft TMR (triple modular redundancy) extended across multiple physical nodes for cyber-physical resilience
Lunar considerations
- ▸Coordinated solar particle events can simultaneously upset multiple mesh nodes — protocol must withstand correlated faults, not just independent ones
- ▸Dust storms (electrostatic dust lofting during sunrise/sunset terminator passage) cause coordinated RF degradation
- ▸Mobile mesh nodes (rovers) can become permanently unreachable due to mechanical failure or terrain entrapment — protocol must declare permanent fault after N retries
- ▸Cyber-physical safety: certain commands (life support setpoints, reactor controls) must require multi-hop voting and authentication
- ▸100-year mission likely sees gradual node attrition — protocol must accept reduced network rather than fail catastrophically
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Fault detection, multi-path routing, and self-healing across mesh |
| inputs | Heartbeat/keep-alive frames from peer nodes, Bundle delivery acknowledgements / NAKs, Topology updates from L3-COM-MESH-SYNC, Priority/criticality tags on outgoing bundles |
| outputs | Replicated/multi-pathed bundle copies via L3-COM-MESH-ROUT, Fault flags for failed nodes/links to L3-CDH-AUTO and L1-MNT, Self-healing routing decisions, Reliability telemetry |
| heartbeat interval s | 30 |
| fault detection time s max | 180 |
| max disjoint paths | 3 |
| erasure coding | RaptorQ (k of n configurable) |
| supported redundancy levels | best_effort, dual_path, triple_path_quorum |
| supported faults per session | 1/3 of nodes lost while maintaining critical traffic |
Physical
| mass kg | 0.0 |
| dimensions | Software across mesh nodes and CDH |
| materials | Code on rad-hard NOR flash |
| operating temperature c | -40, 70 |
Operational
| power consumption w | 0.5 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 100 |
| mtbf hours | 500000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Path-selection guidance with redundancy directives
- Node/link fault notifications
- Diagnosis info for robotic maintenance dispatch
Requires
- Link quality, heartbeat receipt
- Consistent topology and state view
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Mesh Redundancy and Self-Healing" (L3-COM-MESH-REDUN). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-COM-MESH-REDUN
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.