From 2020, this post asked about a generic gateway, but the response was that the codebase was getting there in 3+ months. Paul Mandal has a tool called ATAK Forwarder, which might be a great place to display GPS locations of meshtastic nodes. But if not, I would still need to write an app on a PC, requiring a gateway. I also understand that meshtastic is ideal for ‘stand-alone’ networks with no gateways, but it is the mesh aspect of extending LoRa that is essential to my tiny project.
I am just curious which hardware would be appropriate for a gateway that allowed node data to be exposed outside the mesh(es).
Use case:
-There are a number of nodes deployed temporarily, and in a small-ish group, distance-wise. Less than 1KM in diameter.
-Each node will transmit it’s GPS coords, and a few integers every minute or 2.
-The destination for each transmission is the/a gateway, and not another node. To put it simply, all nodes communicate field data between themselves and a device on the other side of the gateway.
-The only reason one node would communicate with another is to utilize/maintain the mesh. Data from one node’s sensors is of no interest to another node.
-Ultimately, the GPS position information will be presented on a laptop, cell phone, etc., none of which are gateways themselves, and they do no LORA communication at all. An app out there (ATAK, …) or one I write will display data.
-Down the road, sending data from beyond the gateway will be useful, but t doesn’t seem that I need any special considerations-i.e. all components used in 1-way and mesh negotiation can accomplish this OOTB.
I have collected lots of LoRa chips over the years, but until I found meshtastic it seemed I had to write my own mesh layer on top of LoRa. You can imagine how excited I am at the prospect of not re-inventing something!
Can any of you share your own practical/theoretical experiences with using gateways like this?
Your insights deeply appreciated, as I have my hot little credit card in hand!
You can save a few dollars getting a device without gps. Stay away from the RAK devices unless you want to spend more to add wifi that is currently not supported on those devices.
@Spor7biker I appreciate the reply. I’m beginning to think that the meshtastic app is just that-an app, that lives in a .bin that cannot be modified. So while it may run on a powerful uC with tons of IO and sensors, it cannot use any of them. I really hope this isn’t true.
But if it is, then I need to find for nodes the smallest uC that can run the meshtastic layer, and have another onboard to handle the I/O…
Meshtastic is open source and has plugin support and an API. You could download the Git repo and customize to your hearts content. Or write a plugin to make things easer to keep up to date independent of the core project code. If the current API doesn’t meet your needs you could submit a pull request to add the functions you need to the core.
Most of the devices supported run on esp32 SOC. These are the most used as of now but new device support for different SOCs with better power usage is being added.
There should be a decent amount of storage, RAM, and CPU available if you want to run everything on the esp32. Many people are more comfortable with running a computer, like Rpi, and python to do advanced projects using Meshtastics python interface.
I have some ready to use kits.
Backorder at present,
Includes ready to use device, case, etc
If you need a phone, we have mil grade phone and tablets too.
All softwares pre-installed ready to use
When you realize that @Hardware_guy are not interested in the discussion but the only thing that interests is to create a sales center in the Meshtastic forums
I believe eBay is your friend if you want to sell Meshtastic devices.
Oh I was forgetting, if you sell equipment made possible by an Open source project it is always ethical to donate 10% to the project in my opinion, because without the people who created the project it would not have been possible to sell Open source hardware, keep that in mind
Did you ever get this kind of system up and running? I am also interested in a Meshtactic/MQTT connected group that can display node locations on a map in real time. Please let me know if you have come up with a good system, thanks.
