The Junction Protocol for Ad Hoc Peer-to-Peer Mobile Applications

Junction is an application-level communication protocol and library designed for writing mobile applications for ad hoc groups without centralized application servers. We propose that applications be built using a generic switchboard service for communication. Each dynamic instance can designate a unique switchboard, hosted by a peer or by a third-party, for the session. Our convention of naming a session by a Junction URI, which encodes the location of the switchboard, enables a simple click-and-run user experience. The Junction abstraction allows developers a choice of switchboard implementations: XMPP for scalability, IRC for free availability, Pocket Switchboard for mobility, and OpenFlow, a software-defined network, for performance. Invitations to sessions can be carried over NFC, Bluetooth, or QR codes. Junction is available as open source for Android, iPhone and Javascript platforms. Over ten applications in multimedia sharing, games, communication, education, and for enhancing security for online transactions have been developed in Junction.

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