pollinet

PolliNet Technical Whitepaper

Abstract

PolliNet is a decentralized SDK and runtime enabling Solana transactions to be distributed opportunistically over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mesh networks. Inspired by biological pollination, transactions (“pollen grains”) are created offline, propagated across peer devices, and eventually submitted to the Solana blockchain by any gateway node with internet connectivity. PolliNet provides lossless compression (LZ4), store-and-forward caching, and robust fragmentation, allowing transactions to spread efficiently and reliably, even under severe network constraints.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. System Overview
  3. Bluetooth Mesh Network
  4. Transaction Distribution Protocol
  5. Nonce Account Management
  6. Compression and Fragmentation
  7. Security Model
  8. SDK Architecture
  9. Future Extensions
  10. Conclusion

Introduction

Traditional Solana transactions require constant internet connectivity, which limits adoption in rural areas, disaster scenarios, and censorship-prone environments. PolliNet addresses this limitation by introducing a Bluetooth mesh-based relay system that distributes signed transactions like pollen grains across devices until one with internet connectivity submits them to the blockchain.

Key benefits:

System Overview

PolliNet operates in three phases:

  1. Creation: A device creates and signs a Solana transaction using a nonce account.
  2. Propagation: The signed transaction is serialized, compressed, and relayed over BLE to nearby peers.
  3. Submission: When any peer with internet connectivity receives the transaction, it submits it to a Solana RPC endpoint and broadcasts the confirmation back through the mesh.

This process mimics the way pollen grains disperse via wind or pollinators, reaching the destination in a decentralized manner.

Bluetooth Mesh Network

PolliNet uses a BLE mesh similar to peer-to-peer messaging apps:

Network Topology:

Transaction Distribution Protocol

Each transaction is distributed as a binary payload:

Reliability:

Nonce Account Management

To extend transaction lifespan beyond recent blockhash limits, PolliNet relies on Solana nonce accounts:

Nonce Refresh and Confirmation

When a transaction is successfully submitted to Solana, the blockchain automatically advances the nonce account’s stored value. This mechanism prevents replay attacks and ensures the nonce is used exactly once.

Nonce Update Process:

  1. Submission:
    The gateway node submits the signed transaction to the Solana RPC endpoint.

  2. Nonce Advancement:
    Upon confirmation, the nonce account on-chain updates to a new nonce value automatically.

  3. Confirmation Message:
    The gateway fetches the updated nonce account state and creates a confirmation payload containing:
    • The Solana transaction signature.
    • The new nonce value.

  4. Distribution:
    The confirmation is propagated back to the originating device over BLE.

  5. Nonce Replacement:
    The offline device stores the new nonce value locally. It replaces the old nonce so it can prepare the next valid transaction without requiring a full internet connection.

Rationale:

This design ensures:

If a confirmation is delayed or lost, the device can:

Compression and Fragmentation

Compression:

Fragmentation:

Security Model

PolliNet is designed to be secure by default:

Deduplication and Submission Coordination

When a transaction is propagated across multiple devices, it is possible for more than one gateway to attempt submission. Since each transaction references a specific nonce value, the Solana network guarantees that only the first submission succeeds, automatically advancing the nonce account. Subsequent submissions will fail with a Transaction nonce invalid: already used error.

PolliNet provides two mechanisms to coordinate submission and prevent unnecessary duplication:

After a gateway successfully submits a transaction, it immediately broadcasts a Confirmation Message over BLE to inform peers that the transaction was finalized. This message includes:

Behavior:

This approach allows fully offline peers to stay in sync as long as at least one gateway eventually comes online and rebroadcasts confirmations.

Option 2: Pre-Submission Nonce Check

If a device has internet connectivity but has not yet received a confirmation message, it can query the nonce account state before attempting submission:

  1. Fetch nonce account state:

    ```rust let nonce_account = rpc_client.get_nonce_account(nonce_pubkey)?;

SDK Architecture

Core Components:

  1. TransactionBuilder
    • Creates and signs nonce transactions.
  2. MeshTransport
    • Handles BLE scanning, advertising, and relay.
  3. CompressionService
    • LZ4 compress/decompress logic.
  4. FragmentHandler
    • Splits and reassembles messages.
  5. SubmissionService
    • Submits transactions to Solana RPC.
  6. ConfirmationRouter
    • Routes submission confirmations back to the origin.

Languages:

Future Extensions

Potential future improvements:

Conclusion

PolliNet enables resilient, decentralized transaction submission for Solana, inspired by the natural process of pollination. By combining BLE mesh networking, nonce accounts, LZ4 compression, and opportunistic gateways, it expands the blockchain’s reach to any environment—online or offline.

This whitepaper is released under the Apache 2.0 License.

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