Connectify Showcases Its Speedify Bonded VPN by Building a Resilient Raspberry Pi IRL Streaming Rig
By bonding a virtual private connection across multiple smartphone's cellular links, disconnections no longer stop the signal.
Networking specialist Connectify has created a video streaming platform with a difference, in order to demonstrate the capabilities of its bonded virtual private network (VPN) service: the Raspberry Pi-powered streaming system can survive the loss of all but one of its bonded connections.
"Many will argue that IRL [In Real Life] streaming can be done with just your smartphone, using cellular data, or by using your smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your Go-Pro or video camera. This is true in some cases, but certainly not in all of them," Connectify claims. "Cellular coverage is not homogenous or ubiquitous, especially when you’re at the outskirts of a city, or in an area that’s prone to poor mobile signal, like an underground passage or inside a building. That’s why it’s important to get your Internet from at least 2 different cellular carriers. This way, if one’s network fails, you can use the other.
"But there’s one more thing: suppose you have 2 Internet sources with you. What will you do when one of them fails? Stop the IRL stream, setup the other connection and then resume it? That’s a big faux-pas! You need a channel bonding service that can combine BOTH sources into one solid and stable connection."
It just so happens that Connectify offers exactly such a service, in the form of its Speedify bonded virtual private network (VPN) offering. The resulting build combines two or more smartphones tethered to a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B via USB and a portable USB Type-C battery pack for power.
Using the Linux version of Speedify, the cellular connections on all the smartphones can be bonded together - and if one or more connections drop the stream continues without a hitch, the company claims, though by default the software spreads the traffic to improve speed rather than increase resilience.
More information on the build is available on the Speedify blog, while a conversation about the project has sprung on up the /r/raspberry_pi sub-Reddit.
