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We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

meshtastic.org

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Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#161

Post by glassuser »

punkgeek wrote: post #2

Hi ya'll, so we've spent a few weeks making device software and an android app to convert a $30 chinese gps/radio into a long range mesh radio for hikers. It is working fairly well now (though still an alpha) and we'd love more people to try it and/or have fun coding on it. We got about 30 users (and some devs from this hackaday article) but we'd love more users and devs to join this happy-happy project: https://hack…

Yeah I'm interested. I've been building something like this solo, but don't have the skill set to write a mobile app to go with it. I've got the spare parts to make a dozen widgets with a comparable feature set, but family life is keeping me from doing much of it. I know a guy in disaster response who would love to get his hands on a working prototype set to geek out over.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#163

Post by wildylion »

You can try to contact those Russian guys at http://stratonautica.ru/. They were making a project __exactly__ like this, with LoRa (with modifications?) but for location tracking.

And if anybody is interested, I'm actively trying to cook up a neat solution with DMR radios - it just works better than the LoRa ones so far :).

Into amateur radio, Digital voice, DMR, SAR, Location tracking and really looking up to https://www.sartrack.co.nz/.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#164

Post by wildylion »

wildylion wrote: post #163

You can try to contact those Russian guys at http://stratonautica.ru/ . They were making a project __exactly__ like this, with LoRa (with modifications?) but for location tracking. And if anybody is interested, I'm actively trying to cook up a neat solution with DMR radios - it just works better than the LoRa ones so far :). Into amateur radio, Digital voice, DMR, SAR, Location tracking and really looking up to https…

Also, am Russian and https://lizaalert.org volunteer. Would be happy to see you on the bands if you've got a call, come over to TG 250661 GMT+3, daytime. 73s.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#165

Post by punkgeek »

Uhrheber wrote: post #88

I can see why you're using these boards, but the ESP32 is an incredibly power hungry device. For battery/solar power it's not the best choice. For devices in the field I'd use one of the many available low power ARM controllers.

we are careful to keep the esp clock-gated almost all the time (esp calls this light-sleep), in that mode the power draw of the ESP is on 1.5mA. When the radio (or button press) receives a packet it wakes the main CPU, which then services everything (turning on bluetooth as needed) and then goes back to sleep. If you are curious for more details we have a power consumptions spreadsheet in our docs.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#166

Post by punkgeek »

EGreg wrote: post #136

We have (local ad hoc social networking) software that would be very useful to run on your mesh networks. What’s the best way to contact you?

sure! either chat on our gitter chat (link at www.meshtastic.org) or send me an email at kevinh@geeksville.com.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#167

Post by punkgeek »

jesse_m wrote: post #153
punkgeek wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really - on www.meshtastic.org? It is just a standard github pages page. I think you might want to check your web browser config.

I think he's talking to the serval mesh guy

ah! thanks!

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#168

Post by gardners »

linuxguy2 wrote: post #129
gardners wrote: post #70

Howdy, as the founder of the Serval Mesh adhoc networking protocols and hardware, what I would look for in a new radio is: 1. True packet radio mode, that doesn't hide the radioness of the link etc, but lets the programmer use it's strengths. 2. UART link, ideally using 3DR/RFD900 compatible connector (then we can include it directly in our existing systems, and so can others). 3. Field-flashable, but with robust pro…

I checked out the page you linked and it doesn't load very well. FYI * No http -> https redirect * Broken layout when forced to https * Play store link 404's * Icon on the download button is broken

Yes, we know we need to fix the website and app store. This is the pain of depending on grants to get work done :/ Getting the app back up on Play Store is our current priority.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#169

Post by gardners »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #48
punkgeek wrote: post #2

Hi ya'll, so we've spent a few weeks making device software and an android app to convert a $30 chinese gps/radio into a long range mesh radio for hikers. It is working fairly well now (though still an alpha) and we'd love more people to try it and/or have fun coding on it. We got about 30 users (and some devs from this hackaday article) but we'd love more users and devs to join this happy-happy project: https://hack…

This is so cool... I spent six months doing research on a routing layer for mesh Android devices (using Bluetooth and Wifi). This would probably make a lot of what I originally tried out a lot easier. Edit: The issue was making a jump from a local cluster to another cluster far away as local messaging was easy but the further out, the harder it became to maintain connectivity since the amount of devices entering and…

One of the other things we have been doing with Serval in the Mesh Extender devices is making it possible to connect external radios, including HF radios from Codan and Barrett, for really long range inter-cluster communications.

Re: We're making an open-source $30 GPS/mesh radio, would like advice

#170

Post by gardners »

gardners wrote: post #168
linuxguy2 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I checked out the page you linked and it doesn't load very well. FYI * No http -> https redirect * Broken layout when forced to https * Play store link 404's * Icon on the download button is broken

Yes, we know we need to fix the website and app store. This is the pain of depending on grants to get work done :/ Getting the app back up on Play Store is our current priority.

... also, if anyone is interested in helping us with maintaining the website, that would be very welcome.
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