What if we could reinvent networking from the ground up—no collisions, no IPv4 exhaustion, no centralized configuration—just a clean, scalable, self-managing system? Introducing Orbula: a fresh protocol built on logical-ring/physical-star topology using standard CAT6 cabling.

Each host connects through a relay-style device that seamlessly links it into a ring when powered and ready. Nodes communicate using simple but powerful hardware signals: “Clear to Send” and “Packet Ready” lines coordinate direct neighbor-to-neighbor transmission, eliminating contention and packet collision entirely. No CSMA. No waiting for a token. Just smooth, orderly flow.

Addresses are built from a pair—your MAC and your gateway’s MAC—making each node’s identity globally unique and routing-friendly. Gateways stitch rings into higher-level rings, forming a natural hierarchy (Department → Company → City → Region → Global), avoiding routing loops and allowing fast, fixed-size packet forwarding (e.g., 1MB fixed-size packets).

This isn’t just another Ethernet variant—it’s an alternative vision for how networks could work.

Would love input—has this been tried before? Would it be worth prototyping?

Yep I had ChatGPT help me condense a lot of detail down to an elevator pitch.

Each host only talks to it’s upstream neighbor. The connection is mediated by a “clear to send” signal, likewise that same host only listens to it’s downstream neighbor mediated by a “I have a packet signal” data flows around the ring as each neighbor becomes free to accept it.