Case study

free-outernet: reconstructing Outernet broadcast services

free-outernet reconstructs Outernet’s file and time broadcast services from reverse-engineered protocols. Its Python receiver accepts live UDP packets from gr-outernet or recorded KISS files, recovers transmitted files and prints time packets. The code also includes LDPC decoding to recover missing file blocks.

Targets: Protocol
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Sources reviewed: 2026-11-06

Stars: 85
Last commit: 2023-11-10
Language: Python
License (GitHub): GPL-3.0

GitHub data as of 2026-11-09

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Requirements & limits

Prerequisites: gr-outernet supplies live modem packets or a previously recorded KISS file.
Prerequisites: Python 3 with crcmod and zfec dependencies is specified.
Limits: X.509 signature checking, system-time setting and automatic file decompression are unimplemented.
License: GPL-3.0 license.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{free-outernet-protocol-case,
  title = {{free-outernet: reconstructing Outernet broadcast services}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/daniestevez/free-outernet}},
  url = {https://github.com/daniestevez/free-outernet},
  urldate = {2026-11-06},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/free-outernet-protocol-case/}}
}

Plain text

free-outernet: reconstructing Outernet broadcast services. https://github.com/daniestevez/free-outernet (accessed 2026-11-06). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/free-outernet-protocol-case/

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Primary sources

README.md GitHub · daniestevez/free-outernet · Revision 9e47e5d