LoRa WAN ( see 16 March 2022 ) and a point to point LoRa wireless data link have been used previously. This post describes setting up a "Meshtastic" based secure private network comprising 2 nodes again using cheap, low power, LoRa wireless modules, operating on a frequency 868MHz.
Meshtastic allows encrypted text message type communication between nodes ( upto 80 ) in an "off-grid" mesh type network which requires no gateways, infrastructure or internet servers; the underlying technology used is LoRa.
A user-group called SpacerLabs, and 2 nodes named Webmaster ( Wbms ) and Laboratory ( Lbrt ) were created. Node 'Webmaster' uses a TTGO T-Beam board. Node 'Laboratory' uses the same TTGO LoRa32v2 board as on 16 March. Both boards support BlueTooth Low Energy ( BLE ) and have LoRa transceivers; the T-Beam has additionally a Ublox Neo-6M GPS receiver allowing tracking its position.
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| (L) Node Webmaster [T-Beam], (R) Node Laboratory [LoRa32v2] |
The appropriate 'Meshtastic' firmware version was uploaded to each board. Both boards have to be paired with a BlueTooth enabled device, e.g. smartphone or tablet. The 'Meshtastic' app was downloaded and installed on a smartphone.
Although LoRa allows communication between nodes dispersed over a wide area and upto several kilometres apart depending on intervening terrain and antenna type and position, for demonstration purposes the two nodes were positioned just a few centimetres apart. Short text messages were sent from each node using the smartphone. In the above image note the message which was sent to the Laboratory from the Webmaster.
Currently there is no actual requirement for a Meshtastic based network for a SpacerLabs user-group. It was, however, an interesting exercise finding out about Meshtastic and getting a simple network up and running. Two spare LoRa modules are available and could easily be used to add more nodes to the group, perhaps on different floors or buildings e.g., 'Office' and 'Warehouse'. ( visit https://meshtastic.org for more information ).
