Ouch, this was nasty - printf format string wasn't matching the parameters
passed in causing a NPE due to a missing last param.
I'll investigate why printf format strings were
not being checked by the compiler (normally gcc offers that feature)
cc @mc-hamster. In some cases storeForwardPluginRadio can be null ;-)
~/development/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32$ bin/exception_decoder.py -e .pio/build/tbeam/firmware.elf ex
stack:
0x401db467: StoreForwardPluginRadio::sendPayload(unsigned int, bool) at /home/kevinh/development/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32/src/plugins/esp32/StoreForwardPlugin.cpp:235
0x400e7cbd: StoreForwardPlugin::runOnce() at /home/kevinh/development/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32/src/plugins/esp32/StoreForwardPlugin.cpp:225
0x400d4cca: concurrency::OSThread::run() at /home/kevinh/development/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32/src/concurrency/OSThread.cpp:45
0x400f015d: ThreadController::runOrDelay() at /home/kevinh/development/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32/.pio/libdeps/tbeam/Thread/ThreadController.cpp:153
0x400da070: loop() at /home/kevinh/development/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32/src/main.cpp:621
0x400ff709: loopTask(void*) at /home/kevinh/.platformio/packages/framework-arduinoespressif32/cores/esp32/main.cpp:19
Signed-off-by: Kevin Hester <kevinh@geeksville.com>
Instead of holding onto only the last measurement, hold onto a copy of the last MeshPacket containing a measurement
This will make it easier to display the last time received
make DHT sensor reads more reliable
user preference for Farenheit vs Celsius
specifying a tag/commit/etc (I haven't tried specifying a branch?)
Without specifying the hash, the build breaks for anyone who already had
a repo (the CI build doesn't see this because it always pulls from scratch)
cc @crossan007 & @mc-hamster
@mc-hamster seems to work pretty good for me, so I'll send a PR to you
for the dev-http branch.
I'll push out an android alpha build later today (once the build is
complete). Once this new device load is out in the field _future_
device builds will support updating spiffs from android. (i.e. device
loads older than 1.1.9 must be updated to 1.1.9 or later before spiffs
support is implemented on the device side - so some users might need to
update twice before the new spiffs contents will appear on their device)
Typo fixed. I placed the latest javascript library files into the static folder. Updated the root file handler to be able to serve both compressed and uncompressed files.
+ // NOTE: The phone app needs to know the ls_secs value so it can properly expect sleep behavior.
+ // So even if we internally use 0 to represent 'use default' we still need to send the value we are
+ // using to the app (so that even old phone apps work with new device loads).
+#define MAX_POWER 27
// if we use 20 we are limited to 1% duty cycle or hw might overheat. For continuous operation set a limit of 17
+// In theory up to 27 dBm is possible, but the modules installed in most radios can cope with a max of 20. So BIG WARNING
+// if you set power to something higher than 17 or 20 you might fry your board.
Could cause hangs on the way into sleep (and enormous power consumption).
Instead of checking for rx packet length (which only changes at completion)
check if we've received preamble bits but haven't yet received a completed
packet interrupt.
notes:
wait to sleep loop problem
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
Can not send yet, busyRx
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
vs normal run
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
radio wait to sleep, txEmpty=0
Starting low level send (id=0x53fe1dd0 Fr0xe5 To0xff, WantAck0, HopLim3 encrypted)
Completed sending (id=0x53fe1dd0 Fr0xe5 To0xff, WantAck0, HopLim3 encrypted)
bogus wakes on TBEAMS because the USB->SERIAL chip pulls the RX input
to ground. This feature is no longer needed because in !isRouter
nodes we force the node to never sleep anyways when on USB power.
// this doesn't work on TBEAMs when the USB is depowered (causes bogus interrupts)
// So we disable this "wake on serial" feature - because now when a TBEAM (only) has power connected it
// never tries to go to sleep if the user is using the API
// gpio_wakeup_enable((gpio_num_t)SERIAL0_RX_GPIO, GPIO_INTR_LOW_LEVEL);
Sample usage:
First configure device to use @mc-hamster's new wifi stuff:
meshtastic --set wifi_ssid mylanname --set wifi_password mylanpassword
Then reboot the device (so wifi starts up).
(assuming device was assigned addr 192.168.81.45)
meshtastic --info --host 192.168.81.45
(See the usual device info you previously had to get over USB)
Caveats:
* Currently we are limiting to one active TCP connection open at once, if
you open a new session the old one is closed automatically
* There are no access controls/authentication needed to open a TCP
connection to the device
* Currently main.cpp is kinda dumb about how we should schedule work and
we rely on too many helper loop() functions. Very soon in my queue
(related to all the other cleanup) is to add a basic notion of coroutines,
so that we can get away from freertos threads and this old school arduino
loop function. Once that cleanup happens we can the a) have much lower
battery consumption (always) and b) super fast response for all operations.
btw - from my read of the NMEA, the lowest value that means 'has a valid
position' is 1 not 2. But I only know this because you pointed me at
it ;-)
Thanks!
oh - I think I found the problem (probably)! we were isolating gpio12 (which isn't used on other boards) to save power during sleep. gpio12 is the button for this board. @thomslik would you mind pulling this commit and seeing if it works better?
However, disabled until someone with suitable hardware can test and report
back.
@slavino and @tschundler would you be willing to try it with your boards?
You'll need to uncomment the following line in configuration.h
// #define BATTERY_PIN 35 // A battery voltage measurement pin, voltage divider connected here to measure battery voltage
@professr I noticed you added a "newStatus" observable to the GPS class.
Do you remember why you didn't remove the old GPS status (which seemed
to be dumber). Is it just because you didn't want to risk breaking
MeshService? (I assume) In this change I removed the old Observable
and all seems well (just using newStatus everywhere).
/**
* Generate a short suffix used to disambiguate channels that might have the same "name" entered by the human but different PSKs.
* The ideas is that the PSK changing should be visible to the user so that they see they probably messed up and that's why they
their nodes
* aren't talking to each other.
*
* This string is of the form "#name-XY".
*
* Where X is a letter from A to Z (base26), and formed by xoring all the bytes of the PSK together.
* Y is not yet used but should eventually indicate 'speed/range' of the link
*
* This function will also need to be implemented in GUI apps that talk to the radio.
*
* https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-device/issues/269
*/
const char *getChannelName();
@cyclomies thank you for the prodding and help. I'm happy to add more
detail, can you insert a few questions inline? Then I'll answer and
hopefully that will be enough to be useful for others.
The NVS copies of hte BLE pairing info for clients were getting corrupted
occasionally. So I went googling and found some plausible bug reports
but nothing that was an exact match. Then I looked at the arduino-esp32
binaries for the ESP-IDF framework. They were fairly old (Jan 20).
Looking through the commits on ESP-IDF release3.3 it seems like there have
been a few fixes for mutual exclusion errors wrt bluetooth. So I punted
and tried updating ESP-IDF to latest and everything seems fairly solid
now. Currently running a long test run with three nodes.
Meshtastic prompted me to get a couple boards to try, and I had to figure out what frequency. Canada uses the same US902-928 as the US, add it to the list for simplicity.
Not sure where to find an "official" reference, but there's a reference here: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/lorawan/frequencies-by-country.html
This was a good one. Two problems
1) We've apparently always been using hte sparkfun API the wrong way, but
but we mostly got lucky.
2) Changing to use the API correctly (asyncronously) exposed a bug in
the library - fixed in a seperate commit
The SH1106 is almost indistinguisable from a SSD1306.
- the nr of columns in the sh1106 is 132 vs 128
- use the proper includes/library functions when in use
Note - we do this not by using the uart wake feature, but by the lower
power GPIO edge feature. Recommend sending "Z" 0x5A - because that has
many edges. Send the character 4 times to make sure the device is awake
Somehow nodenum was getting reset to zero (and saved to flash - which is
bad because it makes the failure permanent). So I've changed nodenum
selection to occur after we load the saved preferences (and we try to keep
nodenum stable in that case).
I'm puzzled as to how it ever got set to zero (unless there *shudder*
is some errant pointer that clobbered it). But next week I'm turning
4 byte nodenums back on, which will make this moot - because they
will always be based on macaddr and the current process where nodes
haggle with the mesh to pick a unique one-byte nodenum will be gone.
Hi, I think the problem you were having building for ESP32 was due to
a funny thing. Notice the #define for INTERRUPT_ATTR. That macro expands
to IRAM_ATTR - which is a special flag the ESP32 requires for _any_ code
that is going to be called from an ISR. So that the code is guaranteed
to be in RAM (the ESP32 uses a clever scheme where the FLASH is actually
high speed serial flash and all reads/writes are actually only happening
to a small number of pages in RAM and they have a driver that is constantly
copying blocks they need into that ram. This essentially how VM works
for desktop computers, but in their case they are paging to FLASH.
But for code that runs in an interrupt handler must _always_ be in RAM
because if you took a 'page fault' for that code being missing in RAM they
can't nicely do their clever VM scheme.
So that's all good. The problem was - apparently GCC for the ESP32 has a
a bug when that attribute is applied in the class declaration. So
I moved it out into the cpp file and all seems well now.
# Can optionally take parameters from the github UI, more info here https://github.blog/changelog/2020-07-06-github-actions-manual-triggers-with-workflow_dispatch/#:~:text=You%20can%20now%20create%20workflows,the%20workflow%20is%20run%20on.
# workflow_dispatch:
# inputs:
# Only want to be run if a new tag starting with v is pushed.
push:
branches:
- "!*"
tags:
- "v1*"
jobs:
release-build:
runs-on:ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name:Checkout code
uses:actions/checkout@v2
with:
submodules:'recursive'
# get github branch and tag names as ${{ steps.branch_name.outputs.SOURCE_TAG }}
inexpensive GPS mesh radios as an extensible, super long battery life mesh GPS communicator. These radios are great for hiking, skiing, paragliding -
essentially any hobby where you don't have reliable internet access. Each member of your private mesh can always see the location and distance of all other
members and any text messages sent to your group chat.
@@ -14,20 +14,58 @@ will optionally work with your phone, but no phone is required.
Typical time between recharging the radios should be about eight days.
This project is currently early-alpha, but if you have questions please [join our discussion forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
This project is is currently in beta-testing - if you have questions please [join our discussion forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
This software is 100% open source and developed by a group of hobbyist experimenters. No warranty is provided, if you'd like to improve it - we'd love your help. Please post in the chat.
## Supported hardware
We currently support three models of radios. The [TTGO T-Beam](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000119152086.html), [TTGO LORA32](https://www.banggood.com/LILYGO-TTGO-LORA32-868Mhz-SX1276-ESP32-Oled-Display-bluetooth-WIFI-Lora-Development-Module-Board-p-1248652.html?cur_warehouse=UK) and the [Heltec LoRa 32](https://heltec.org/project/wifi-lora-32/). Most users should buy the T-Beam and an 18650 battery (total cost less than \$35). Make sure to buy the frequency range which is legal for your country (915MHz for US/JP/AU/NZ, 470MHz for CN, 433MHz and 870MHz for EU). Getting a version that includes a screen is optional, but highly recommended.
We currently support three models of radios.
See (meshtastic.org) for 3D printable cases.
- TTGO T-Beam (usually the recommended choice)
- [T-Beam V1.1 w/ NEO-6M - special Meshtastic version](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001178678568.html) (Includes built-in OLED display and they have **preinstalled** the meshtastic software)
- [T-Beam V0.7 w/ NEO-6M](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000574335430.html) (will work but **you must use the tbeam0.7 firmware ** - but the T-Beam V1.0 or later are better!)
- board labels "TTGO T22_V07 20180711"
- 3D printable cases
- [T-Beam V0](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3773717) (GPS and LoRa antenna misaligned if GPS placed as pictured)
Note: The GPS and LoRa stock antennas should be placed in a way, that the GPS antenna faces the sky and the LoRa antenna radiates 360 degrees horizontally. For better GPS reception you might want to [upgrade the GPS antenna](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/t/the-importance-of-gps-antennas-and-request-to-3d-case-documentation-people/1505) and to properly align the antennas you might want to upgrade to a LoRa antenna that can be adjusted to radiate into the right directions.
**Make sure to get the frequency for your country**
- US/JP/AU/NZ/CA - 915MHz
- CN - 470MHz
- EU - 868MHz, 433MHz
- full list of LoRa frequencies per region is available [here](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/lorawan/frequencies-by-country.html)
Getting a version that includes a screen is optional, but highly recommended.
## Firmware Installation
Prebuilt binaries for the supported radios are available in our [releases](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/releases). Your initial installation has to happen over USB from your Mac, Windows or Linux PC. Once our software is installed, all future software updates happen over bluetooth from your phone.
Be **very careful** to install the correct load for your board. In particular the popular 'T-BEAM' radio from TTGO is not called 'TTGO-Lora' (that is a different board). So don't install the 'TTGO-Lora' build on a TBEAM, it won't work correctly.
Please post comments on our [group chat](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/) if you have problems or successes.
### Installing from a GUI - Windows and Mac
@@ -35,12 +73,13 @@ Please post comments on our [group chat](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/) if
1. Download and unzip the latest Meshtastic firmware [release](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/releases).
2. Download [ESPHome Flasher](https://github.com/esphome/esphome-flasher/releases) (either x86-32bit Windows or x64-64 bit Windows).
3. Connect your radio to your USB port and open ESPHome Flasher.
4. If your board is not showing under Serial Port then you likely need to install the drivers for the CP210X serial chip. In Windows you can check by searching “Device Manager” and ensuring the device is shown under “Ports”.
5. If there is an error, download the drivers [here](https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers), then unzip and run the Installer application.
4. If your board is not showing under Serial Port then you likely need to install the drivers for the CP210X serial chip. In Windows you can check by searching “Device Manager” and ensuring the device is shown under “Ports”.
5. If there is an error, download the drivers [here](https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers), then unzip and run the Installer application.
6. In ESPHome Flasher, refresh the serial ports and select your board.
7. Browse to the previously downloaded firmware and select the correct firmware based on the board type, country and frequency.
8. Select Flash ESP.
9. Once finished, the terminal should start displaying debug messages including the Bluetooth passphrase when you try connect from your phone (handy if you don’t have a screen).
9. Once complete, “Done! Flashing is complete!” will be shown.
10. Debug messages sent from the Meshtastic device can be viewed with a terminal program such as [PuTTY](https://www.putty.org/) (Windows only). Within PuTTY, click “Serial”, enter the “Serial line” com port (can be found at step 4), enter “Speed” as 921600, then click “Open”.
### Installing from a commandline
@@ -70,9 +109,12 @@ Hard resetting via RTS pin...
```
5. cd into the directory where the release zip file was expanded.
6. Install the correct firmware for your board with "device-install.sh firmware-_board_-_country_.bin". For instance "./device-install.sh firmware-HELTEC-US-0.0.3.bin".
6. Install the correct firmware for your board with `device-install.sh -f firmware-_board_-_country_.bin`.
Note: If you have previously installed meshtastic, you don't need to run this full script instead just run "esptool.py --baud 921600 write*flash 0x10000 firmware-\_board*-_country_.bin". This will be faster, also all of your current preferences will be preserved.
Note: If you have previously installed meshtastic, you don't need to run this full script instead just run `esptool.py --baud 921600 write_flash 0x10000 firmware-_board_-_country_-_version_.bin`. This will be faster, also all of your current preferences will be preserved.
You should see something like this:
@@ -143,22 +185,21 @@ Hard resetting via RTS pin...
7. The board will boot and show the Meshtastic logo.
8. Please post a comment on our chat so we know if these instructions worked for you ;-). If you find bugs/have-questions post there also - we will be rapidly iterating over the next few weeks.
## Meshtastic Android app
# Meshtastic Android app
The source code for the (optional) Meshtastic Android app is [here](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android).
The companion (optional, free, open-source) Meshtastic Android app is available on various appstores [see this page for details](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/blob/master/README.md).
Alpha test builds are current available by opting into our alpha test group. See (www.meshtastic.org) for instructions.
# Python API
After our rate of change slows a bit, we will make beta builds available here (without needing to join the alphatest group):
[](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geeksville.mesh&referrer=utm_source%3Dgithub%26utm_medium%3Desp32-readme%26utm_campaign%3Dmeshtastic-esp32%2520readme%26anid%3Dadmob&pcampaignid=pcampaignidMKT-Other-global-all-co-prtnr-py-PartBadge-Mar2515-1)
We offer a [python API](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-python) that makes it easy to use these devices to provide mesh networking for your custom projects.
# Development
We'd love to have you join us on this merry little project. Please see our [development documents](./docs/software/sw-design.md) and [join us in our discussion forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
We'd love to have you join us on this merry little project. Please see our [development documents](https://meshtastic.org/docs/software/other/sw-design) and [join us in our discussion forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
# Credits
This project is run by volunteers. Past contributors include:
This project is run by volunteers. We are a friendly group and welcome any contribution (code fixes, documentation, features, bug reports etc...). We try to be good about listing contributor names in release notes, but it has become unwieldy for the main-devs to keep updating the list below and we've neglected it too long. If you'd like your name included in this list please send a pull request to edit this README and simply add your line yourself. Thank you very much for your help!
-@astro-arphid: Added support for 433MHz radios in europe.
-@claesg: Various documentation fixes and 3D print enclosures
inexpensive (\$30 ish) GPS radios as an extensible, super long battery life mesh GPS communicator. These radios are great for hiking, skiing, paragliding - essentially any hobby where you don't have reliable internet access. Each member of your private mesh can always see the location and distance of all other members and any text messages sent to your group chat.
The radios automatically create a mesh to forward packets as needed, so everyone in the group can receive messages from even the furthest member. The radios will optionally work with your phone, but no phone is required.
Note: Questions after reading this? See our new [forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
### Uses
- Outdoor sports where cellular coverage is limited. (Hiking, Skiing, Boating, Paragliding, Gliders etc..)
- Applications where closed source GPS communicators just won't cut it (it is easy to add features for glider pilots etc...)
- Secure long-range communication within groups without depending on cellular providers
- Finding your lost kids ;-)
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNbMbVZlHI "Meshtastic early demo")
### Features
Not all of these features are fully implemented yet - see **important** disclaimers below. But they should be in by the time we decide to call this project beta (three months?)
- Very long battery life (should be about eight days with the beta software)
- Built in GPS and [LoRa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LoRa) radio, but we manage the radio automatically for you
- Long range - a few miles per node but each node will forward packets as needed
- Shows direction and distance to all members of your channel
- Directed or broadcast text messages for channel members
- Open and extensible codebase supporting multiple hardware vendors - no lock in to one vendor
- Communication API for bluetooth devices (such as our Android app) to use the mesh. So if you have some application that needs long range low power networking, this might work for you.
- Eventually (within a couple of months) we should have a modified version of Signal that works with this project.
- Very easy sharing of private secured channels. Just share a special link or QR code with friends and they can join your encrypted mesh
This project is currently in early alpha - if you have questions please [join our discussion forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
This software is 100% open source and developed by a group of hobbyist experimenters. No warranty is provided, if you'd like to improve it - we'd love your help. Please post in the [forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/).
# Updates
Note: Updates are happening almost daily, only major updates are listed below. For more details see our forum.
- 04/20/2020 - 0.4.3 Pretty solid now both for the android app and the device code. Many people have donated translations and code. Probably going to call it a beta soon.
- 03/03/2020 - 0.0.9 of the Android app and device code is released. Still an alpha but fairly functional.
- 02/25/2020 - 0.0.4 of the Android app is released. This is a very early alpha, see below to join the alpha-testers group.
- 02/23/2020 - 0.0.4 release. Still very bleeding edge but much closer to the final power management, a charged T-BEAM should run for many days with this load. If you'd like to try it, we'd love your feedback. Click [here](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/blob/master/README.md) for instructions.
- 02/20/2020 - Our first alpha release (0.0.3) of the radio software is ready brave early people.
## Meshtastic Android app
Our Android application is available here:
[](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geeksville.mesh&referrer=utm_source%3Dhomepage%26anid%3Dadmob)
The link above will return older more stable releases. We would prefer if you join our alpha-test group, because the application is rapidly improving. Three steps to opt-in to the alpha- test:
1. Join [this Google group](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/meshtastic-alpha-testers) with the account you use in Google Play.
2. Go to this [URL](https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.geeksville.mesh) to opt-in to the alpha test.
3. If you encounter any problems or have questions, post in our [forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/) and we'll help.
If you'd like to help with development, the source code is [on github](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android).
## Supported hardware
We currently support two brands of radios. The [TTGO T-Beam](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000119152086.html) and the [Heltec LoRa 32](https://heltec.org/project/wifi-lora-32/). Most people should buy the T-Beam and a 18650 battery (total cost less than \$35). Make
sure to buy the frequency range which is legal for your country. For the USA, you should buy the 915MHz version. Getting a version that include a screen is optional, but highly recommended.
Instructions for installing prebuilt firmware can be found [here](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/blob/master/README.md).
For a nice printable cases:
1. TTGO T-Beam V0 see this [design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3773717) by [bsiege](https://www.thingiverse.com/bsiege).
2. TTGO T_Beam V1 see this [design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3830711) by [rwanrooy](https://www.thingiverse.com/rwanrooy) or this [remix](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3949330) by [8ung](https://www.thingiverse.com/8ung)
3. Heltec Lora32 see this [design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3125854) by [ornotermes](https://www.thingiverse.com/ornotermes).
# IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS AND FAQ
For a listing of currently missing features and a FAQ click [here](faq.md).
This project is still pretty young but moving at a pretty good pace. Not all features are fully implemented in the current alpha builds.
Most of these problems should be solved by the beta release (within three months):
- We don't make these devices and they haven't been tested by UL or the FCC. If you use them you are experimenting and we can't promise they won't burn your house down ;-)
- Encryption is turned off for now
- A number of (straightforward) software work items have to be completed before battery life matches our measurements, currently battery life is about three days. Join us on chat if you want the spreadsheet of power measurements/calculations.
- The Android API needs to be documented better
- No one has written an iOS app yet. But some good souls [are talking about it](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/issues/14) ;-)
For more details see the [device software TODO](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-esp32/blob/master/docs/software/TODO.md) or the [Android app TODO](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/blob/master/TODO.md).
# FAQ
If you have a question missing from this faq, please [ask in our discussion forum](https://meshtastic.discourse.group/). And if you are feeling extra generous send in a pull-request for this faq.md with whatever we answered ;-).
## Q: Which of the various supported radios should I buy?
Basically you just need the radio + (optional but recommended) battery. The TBEAM is usually better because it has gps and huge battery socket. The Heltec is basically the same hardware but without the GPS (the phone provides position data to the radio in that case, so the behavior is similar - but it does burn some battery in the phone). Also the battery for the Heltec can be smaller.
In addition to Aliexpress, (banggood.com) usually has stock and faster shipping, or Amazon. If buying a TBEAM, make sure to buy a version that includes the OLED screen - this project doesn't absolutely require the screen, but we use it if is installed.
@claesg has added links to various 3D printable cases, you can see them at (www.meshtastic.org).
## Q: Do you have plans to commercialize this project
Nope. though if some other person/group wanted to use this software and a more customized device we think that would be awesome (as long as they obey the GPL license).
## Q: Does this project use patented algorithms?
(Kindly borrowed from the geeks at [ffmpeg](http://ffmpeg.org/legal.html))
We do not know, we are not lawyers so we are not qualified to answer this. Also we have never read patents to implement any part of this, so even if we were qualified we could not answer it as we do not know what is patented. Furthermore the sheer number of software patents makes it impossible to read them all so no one (lawyer or not) could answer such a question with a definite no. We are merely geeks experimenting on a fun and free project.
We don't collect any personal identifying information.
If you have opted-in to analytics (thank you - that helps us know what things we need to improve), we'll receive anonymized information about user behavior. i.e. which screens you used in the app etc... We never
capture usernames, the contents of your texts or your location.
This is an open-source project run by hobbyists and we try to be completely transparent. If you have questions on this policy, please file [a github issue](https://github.com/meshtastic/meshtastic-esp32/issues) and we'll reply/clarify/correct.
We use the same channel maps as LoRaWAN (though this is not LoRaWAN).

See [this site](https://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/LoRa-channels-list.html) for more information.
## LoRaWAN Europe Frequency Band
The maximum power allowed is +14dBM.
### 433 MHz
There are eight channels defined with a 0.2 MHz gap between them.
Channel zero starts at 433.175 MHz
### 870 MHz
There are eight channels defined with a 0.3 MHz gap between them.
Channel zero starts at 865.20 MHz
## LoRaWAN for North America
LoRaWAN defines 64, 125 kHz channels from 902.3 to 914.9 MHz increments.
The maximum output power for North America is +30 dBM.
The band is from 902 to 928 MHz. It mentions channel number and its respective channel frequency. All the 13 channels are separated by 2.16 MHz with respect to the adjacent channels.
Channel zero starts at 903.08 MHz center frequency.
Items to complete soon (next couple of alpha releases).
- lower wait_bluetooth_secs to 30 seconds once we have the GPS power on (but GPS in sleep mode) across light sleep. For the time
being I have it set at 2 minutes to ensure enough time for a GPS lock from scratch.
- remeasure wake time power draws now that we run CPU down at 80MHz
# AXP192 tasks
- figure out why this fixme is needed: "FIXME, disable wake due to PMU because it seems to fire all the time?"
- "AXP192 interrupt is not firing, remove this temporary polling of battery state"
- make debug info screen show real data (including battery level & charging) - close corresponding github issue
# Medium priority
Items to complete before the first beta release.
- Don't store position packets in the to phone fifo if we are disconnected. The phone will get that info for 'free' when it
fetches the fresh nodedb.
- Use the RFM95 sequencer to stay in idle mode most of the time, then automatically go to receive mode and automatically go from transmit to receive mode. See 4.2.8.2 of manual.
- possibly switch to https://github.com/SlashDevin/NeoGPS for gps comms
- good source of battery/signal/gps icons https://materialdesignicons.com/
- research and implement better mesh algorithm - investigate changing routing to https://github.com/sudomesh/LoRaLayer2 ?
- check fcc rules on duty cycle. we might not need to freq hop. https://www.sunfiretesting.com/LoRa-FCC-Certification-Guide/
- use fuse bits to store the board type and region. So one load can be used on all boards
- the BLE stack is leaking about 200 bytes each time we go to light sleep
- rx signal measurements -3 marginal, -9 bad, 10 great, -10 means almost unusable. So scale this into % signal strength. preferably as a graph, with an X indicating loss of comms.
- assign every "channel" a random shared 8 bit sync word (per 4.2.13.6 of datasheet) - use that word to filter packets before even checking CRC. This will ensure our CPU will only wake for packets on our "channel"
- Note: we do not do address filtering at the chip level, because we might need to route for the mesh
- add basic crypto - https://github.com/chegewara/esp32-mbedtls-aes-test/blob/master/main/main.c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_mode_of_operation - use ECB at first (though it is shit) because it doesn't require us to send 16 bytes of IV with each packet. Then OFB per example. Possibly do this crypto at the data payload level only, so that all of the packet routing metadata
is in cleartext (so that nodes will route for other radios that are cryptoed with a key we don't know)
- add frequency hopping, dependent on the gps time, make the switch moment far from the time anyone is going to be transmitting
- share channel settings over Signal (or qr code) by embedding an an URL which is handled by the MeshUtil app.
- publish update articles on the web
# Pre-beta priority
During the beta timeframe the following improvements 'would be nice' (and yeah - I guess some of these items count as features, but it is a hobby project ;-) )
- If the phone doesn't read fromradio mailbox within X seconds, assume the phone is gone and we can stop queing location msgs
for it (because it will redownload the nodedb when it comes back)
- Figure out why the RF95 ISR is never seeing RH_RF95_VALID_HEADER, so it is not protecting our rx packets from getting stomped on by sends
- fix the frequency error reading in the RF95 RX code (can't do floating point math in an ISR ;-)
- See CustomRF95::send and fix the problem of dropping partially received packets if we want to start sending
- make sure main cpu is not woken for packets with bad crc or not addressed to this node - do that in the radio hw
- triple check fcc compliance
- pick channel center frequency based on channel name? "dolphin" would hash to 900Mhz, "cat" to 905MHz etc? allows us to hide the concept of channel # from hte user.
- scan to find channels with low background noise? (Use CAD mode of the RF95 to automatically find low noise channels)
- make a no bluetooth configured yet screen - include this screen in the loop if the user hasn't yet paired
- if radio params change fundamentally, discard the nodedb
- reneable the bluetooth battery level service on the T-BEAM, because we can read battery level there
# Spinoff project ideas
- an open source version of https://www.burnair.ch/skynet/
- a paragliding app like http://airwhere.co.uk/
- a version with a solar cell for power, just mounted high to permanently provide routing for nodes in a valley. Someone just pointed me at disaster.radio
- How do avalanche beacons work? Could this do that as well? possibly by using beacon mode feature of the RF95?
- provide generalized (but slow) internet message forwarding servie if one of our nodes has internet connectivity
# Low priority
Items after the first final candidate release.
- use variable length arduino Strings in protobufs (instead of current fixed buffers)
- use BLEDevice::setPower to lower our BLE transmit power - extra range doesn't help us, it costs amps and it increases snoopability
- make an install script to let novices install software on their boards
- use std::map<NodeInfo\*, std::string> in node db
- make a HAM build: yep - that's a great idea. I'll add it to the TODO. should be pretty painless - just a new frequency list, a bool to say 'never do encryption' and use hte callsign as that node's unique id. -from Girts
- don't forward redundant pings or ping responses to the phone, it just wastes phone battery
- use https://platformio.org/lib/show/1260/OneButton if necessary
- don't send location packets if we haven't moved
- scrub default radio config settings for bandwidth/range/speed
- answer to pings (because some other user is looking at our nodeinfo) with our latest location (not a stale location)
- show radio and gps signal strength as an image
- only BLE advertise for a short time after the screen is on and button pressed - to save power and prevent people for sniffing for our BT app.
- make mesh aware network timing state machine (sync wake windows to gps time)
- split out the software update utility so other projects can use it. Have the appload specify the URL for downloads.
- read the PMU battery fault indicators and blink/led/warn user on screen
- the AXP debug output says it is trying to charge at 700mA, but the max I've seen is 180mA, so AXP registers probably need to be set to tell them the circuit can only provide 300mAish max. So that the low charge rate kicks in faster and we don't wear out batteries.
- increase the max charging rate a bit for 18650s, currently it limits to 180mA (at 4V). Work backwards from the 500mA USB limit (at 5V) and let the AXP charge at that rate.
- discard very old nodedb records (> 1wk)
- using the genpartitions based table doesn't work on TTGO so for now I stay with my old memory map
- We let anyone BLE scan for us (FIXME, perhaps only allow that until we are paired with a phone and configured)
- use two different buildenv flags for ttgo vs lora32. https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/ide/vscode.html#key-bindings
- sim gps data for testing nodes that don't have hardware
- do debug serial logging to android over bluetooth
- break out my bluetooth OTA software as a seperate library so others can use it
- Heltec LoRa32 has 8MB flash, use a bigger partition table if needed - TTGO is 4MB but has PSRAM
- add a watchdog timer
- handle millis() rollover in GPS.getTime - otherwise we will break after 50 days
- report esp32 device code bugs back to the mothership via android
# Done
- change the partition table to take advantage of the 4MB flash on the wroom: http://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/espressif32.html#partition-tables
- wrap in nice MeshRadio class
- add mesh send & rx
- make message send from android go to service, then to mesh radio
- make message receive from radio go through to android
- test loopback tx/rx path code without using radio
- notify phone when rx packets arrive, currently the phone polls at startup only
- figure out if we can use PA_BOOST - yes, it seems to be on both boards
- implement new ble characteristics
- have MeshService keep a node DB by sniffing user messages
- have a state machine return the correct FromRadio packet to the phone, it isn't always going to be a MeshPacket. Do a notify on fromnum to force the radio to read our state machine generated packets
- send my_node_num when phone sends WantsNodes
- have meshservice periodically send location data on mesh (if device has a GPS)
- implement getCurrentTime() - set based off gps but then updated locally
- make default owner record have valid usernames
- message loop between node 0x28 and 0x7c
- check in my radiolib fixes
- figure out what is busted with rx
- send our owner info at boot, reply if we see anyone send theirs
- add manager layers
- confirm second device receives that gps message and updates device db
- send correct hw vendor in the bluetooth info - needed so the android app can update different radio models
- correctly map nodeids to nodenums, currently we just do a proof of concept by always doing a broadcast
- add interrupt detach/sleep mode config to lora radio so we can enable deepsleep without panicing
- make jtag work on second board
- implement regen owner and radio prefs
- use a better font
- make nice screens (boot, about to sleep, debug info (gps signal, #people), latest text, person info - one frame per person on network)
- turn framerate from ui->state.frameState to 1 fps (or less) unless in transition
- switch to my gui layout manager
- make basic gui. different screens: debug, one page for each user in the user db, last received text message
- make button press cycle between screens
- save our node db on entry to sleep
- fix the logo
- sent/received packets (especially if a node was just reset) have variant of zero sometimes - I think there is a bug (race-condtion?) in the radio send/rx path.
- DONE dynamic nodenum assignment tasks
- make jtag debugger id stable: https://askubuntu.com/questions/49910/how-to-distinguish-between-identical-usb-to-serial-adapters
- reported altitude is crap
- good tips on which bands might be more free https://github.com/TheThingsNetwork/ttn/issues/119
- finish power measurements (GPS on during sleep vs LCD on during sleep vs LORA on during sleep) and est battery life
- make screen sleep behavior work
- make screen advance only when a new node update arrives, a new text arrives or the user presses a button, turn off screen after a while
- after reboot, channel number is getting reset to zero! fix!
- send user and location events much less often
- send location (or if not available user) when the user wakes the device from display sleep (both for testing and to improve user experience)
- make real implementation of getNumOnlineNodes
- very occasionally send our position and user packet based on the schedule in the radio info (if for nothing else so that other nodes update last_seen)
- show real text info on the text screen
- apply radio settings from android land
- cope with nodes that have 0xff or 0x00 as the last byte of their mac
- allow setting full radio params from android
- add receive timestamps to messages, inserted by esp32 when message is received but then shown on the phone
- update build to generate both board types
- have node info screen show real info (including distance and heading)
- blink the power led less often
- have radiohead ISR send messages to RX queue directly, to allow that thread to block until we have something to send
- move lora rx/tx to own thread and block on IO
- keep our pseudo time moving forward even if we enter deep sleep (use esp32 rtc)
- for non GPS equipped devices, set time from phone
- GUI on oled hangs for a few seconds occasionally, but comes back
- update local GPS position (but do not broadcast) at whatever rate the GPS is giving it
- don't send our times to other nodes
- don't trust times from other nodes
- draw compass rose based off local walking track
- add requestResponse optional bool - use for location broadcasts when sending tests
- post sample video to signal forum
- support non US frequencies
- send pr https://github.com/ThingPulse/esp8266-oled-ssd1306 to tell them about this project
- document rules for sleep wrt lora/bluetooth/screen/gps. also: if I have text messages (only) for the phone, then give a few seconds in the hopes BLE can get it across before we have to go back to sleep.
- wake from light sleep as needed for our next scheduled periodic task (needed for gps position broadcasts etc)
- turn bluetooth off based on our sleep policy
- blink LED while in LS sleep mode
- scrolling between screens based on press is busted
- Use Neo-M8M API to put it in sleep mode (on hold until my new boards arrive)
- update the prebuilt bins for different regulatory regions
- don't enter NB state if we've recently talked to the phone (to prevent breaking syncing or bluetooth sw update)
- have sw update prevent BLE sleep
- manually delete characteristics/descs
- leave lora receiver always on
- protobufs are sometimes corrupted after sleep!
- stay awake while charging
- check gps battery voltage
- if a position report includes ground truth time and we don't have time yet, set our clock from that. It is better than nothing.
- retest BLE software update for both board types
- report on wikifactory
- send note to the guy who designed the cases
- turn light sleep on aggressively (while lora is on but BLE off)
- Use the Periodic class for both position and user periodic broadcasts
- don't treat north as up, instead adjust shown bearings for our guess at the users heading (i.e. subtract one from the other)
- sendToMesh can currently block for a long time, instead have it just queue a packet for a radio freertos thread
- don't even power on bluetooth until we have some data to send to the android phone. Most of the time we should be sleeping in a lowpower "listening for lora" only mode. Once we have some packets for the phone, then power on bluetooth
until the phone pulls those packets. Ever so often power on bluetooth just so we can see if the phone wants to send some packets. Possibly might need ULP processor to help with this wake process.
- do hibernation mode to get power draw down to 2.5uA https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp32-sleep-modes-power-consumption/
- fix GPS.zeroOffset calculation it is wrong
- (needs testing) fixed the following during a plane flight:
Have state machine properly enter deep sleep based on loss of mesh and phone comms.
Default to enter deep sleep if no LORA received for two hours (indicates user has probably left the mesh).
- (fixed I think) text messages are not showing on local screen if screen was on
- add links to todos
- link to the kanban page
- add a getting started page
- finish mesh alg reeval
- ublox gps parsing seems a little buggy (we shouldn't be sending out read solution commands, the device is already broadcasting them)
- turn on gps https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_Ublox_Arduino_Library/blob/master/examples/Example18_PowerSaveMode/Example18_PowerSaveMode.ino
- switch gps to 38400 baud https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_Ublox_Arduino_Library/blob/master/examples/Example11_ResetModule/Example2_FactoryDefaultsviaSerial/Example2_FactoryDefaultsviaSerial.ino
- Use Neo-M8M API to put it in sleep mode
- use gps sleep mode instead of killing its power (to allow fast position when we wake)
- enable fast lock and low power inside the gps chip
- Make a FAQ
- add a SF12 transmit option for _super_ long range
The Bluetooth API is design to have only a few characteristics and most polymorphism comes from the flexible set of Google Protocol Buffers which are sent over the wire. We use protocol buffers extensively both for the bluetooth API and for packets inside the mesh or when providing packets to other applications on the phone.
## A note on MTU sizes
This device will work with any MTU size, but it is highly recommended that you call your phone's "setMTU function to increase MTU to 512 bytes" as soon as you connect to a service. This will dramatically improve performance when reading/writing packets.
## MeshBluetoothService
This is the main bluetooth service for the device and provides the API your app should use to get information about the mesh, send packets or provision the radio.
For a reference implementation of a client that uses this service see [RadioInterfaceService](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/blob/master/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/RadioInterfaceService.kt). Typical flow when
a phone connects to the device should be the following:
- SetMTU size to 512
- Read a RadioConfig from "radio" - used to get the channel and radio settings
- Read (and write if incorrect) a User from "user" - to get the username for this node
- Read a MyNodeInfo from "mynode" to get information about this local device
- Write an empty record to "nodeinfo" to restart the nodeinfo reading state machine
- Read from "nodeinfo" until it returns empty to build the phone's copy of the current NodeDB for the mesh
- Read from "fromradio" until it returns empty to get any messages that arrived for this node while the phone was away
- Subscribe to notify on "fromnum" to get notified whenever the device has a new received packet
- Read that new packet from "fromradio"
- Whenever the phone has a packet to send write to "toradio"
For definitions (and documentation) on FromRadio, ToRadio, MyNodeInfo, NodeInfo and User protocol buffers see [mesh.proto](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-protobufs/blob/master/mesh.proto)
UUID for the service: 6ba1b218-15a8-461f-9fa8-5dcae273eafd
Each characteristic is listed as follows:
UUID
Properties
Description (including human readable name)
8ba2bcc2-ee02-4a55-a531-c525c5e454d5
read
fromradio - contains a newly received FromRadio packet destined towards the phone (up to MAXPACKET bytes per packet).
After reading the esp32 will put the next packet in this mailbox. If the FIFO is empty it will put an empty packet in this
mailbox.
f75c76d2-129e-4dad-a1dd-7866124401e7
write
toradio - write ToRadio protobufs to this characteristic to send them (up to MAXPACKET len)
ed9da18c-a800-4f66-a670-aa7547e34453
read,notify,write
fromnum - the current packet # in the message waiting inside fromradio, if the phone sees this notify it should read messages
until it catches up with this number.
The phone can write to this register to go backwards up to FIXME packets, to handle the rare case of a fromradio packet was dropped after the esp32 callback was called, but before it arrives at the phone. If the phone writes to this register the esp32 will discard older packets and put the next packet >= fromnum in fromradio.
When the esp32 advances fromnum, it will delay doing the notify by 100ms, in the hopes that the notify will never actally need to be sent if the phone is already pulling from fromradio.
Note: that if the phone ever sees this number decrease, it means the esp32 has rebooted.
Re: queue management
Not all messages are kept in the fromradio queue (filtered based on SubPacket):
- only the most recent Position and User messages for a particular node are kept
- all Data SubPackets are kept
- No WantNodeNum / DenyNodeNum messages are kept
A variable keepAllPackets, if set to true will suppress this behavior and instead keep everything for forwarding to the phone (for debugging)
## Protobuf API
On connect, you should send a want_config_id protobuf to the device. This will cause the device to send its node DB and radio config via the fromradio endpoint. After sending the full DB, the radio will send a want_config_id to indicate it is done sending the configuration.
## Other bluetooth services
This document focuses on the core mesh service, but it is worth noting that the following other Bluetooth services are also
provided by the device.
### BluetoothSoftwareUpdate
The software update service. For a sample function that performs a software update using this API see [startUpdate](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-Android/blob/master/app/src/main/java/com/geeksville/mesh/service/SoftwareUpdateService.kt).
| e74dd9c0-a301-4a6f-95a1-f0e1dbea8e1e | write,read | total image size, 32 bit, write this first, then read read back to see if it was acceptable (0 mean not accepted) |
| e272ebac-d463-4b98-bc84-5cc1a39ee517 | write | data, variable sized, recommended 512 bytes, write one for each block of file |
| 4826129c-c22a-43a3-b066-ce8f0d5bacc6 | write | crc32, write last - writing this will complete the OTA operation, now you can read result |
| 5e134862-7411-4424-ac4a-210937432c77 | read,notify | result code, readable but will notify when the OTA operation completes |
| GATT_UUID_SW_VERSION_STR/0x2a28 | read | We also implement these standard GATT entries because SW update probably needs them: |
| GATT_UUID_MANU_NAME/0x2a29 | read | |
| GATT_UUID_HW_VERSION_STR/0x2a27 | read | |
### DeviceInformationService
Implements the standard BLE contract for this service (has software version, hardware model, serial number, etc...)
### BatteryLevelService
Implements the standard BLE contract service, provides battery level in a way that most client devices should automatically understand (i.e. it should show in the bluetooth devices screen automatically)
4. If you are outside the USA, edit [platformio.ini](/platformio.ini) to set the correct frequency range for your country. The line you need to change starts with "hw_version" and instructions are provided above that line. Options are provided for EU433, EU835, CN, JP and US. Pull-requests eagerly accepted for other countries.
5. Plug the radio into your USB port
6. Type "pio run --environment XXX -t upload" (This command will fetch dependencies, build the project and install it on the board via USB). For XXX, use the board type you have (either tbeam, heltec, ttgo-lora32-v1, ttgo-lora32-v2).
7. Platform IO also installs a very nice VisualStudio Code based IDE, see their [tutorial](https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/tutorials/espressif32/arduino_debugging_unit_testing.html) if you'd like to use it.
## Decoding stack traces
If you get a crash, you can decode the addresses from the `Backtrace:` line:
1. Save the `Backtrace: 0x....` line to a file, e.g., `backtrace.txt`.
2. Run `bin/exception_decoder.py backtrace.txt` (this uses symbols from the
last `firmware.elf`, so you must be running the same binary that's still in
I'm using a Mac for this, so that might account for differences in the steps to get it working. I just swapped out my SSD last month, I'm using a pretty fresh install of OS X 10.15.3/Catalina.
I got it working fairly smoothly, but there were two hang-ups I thought I'd mention:
1. I am about 0% familiar with Python, so there were some issues getting esptool.py working. Basically, this OS X comes with Python 2.7 and no pip. Pip installed okay, so I used it to install esptool. Esptool appeared to install correctly, but I couldn't get it to work to save my life. Simply typing "esptool.py" doesn't work, and I just don't know enough python to figure out why. For some reason, it installs but isn't in the \$PATH anywhere, and I don't know where it went. Python 2.7 kept giving me warning messages about being old and unsupported, so I figured that might be a hint that I should upgrade.
I ended up doing this:
- brew install pyenv (to install pyenv)
- pyenv install 3.7.7 (to install and select python 3.7.7)
- pyenv global 3.7.7 (to select the new version of python)
- brew install pip (to install pip3)
- pip3 install --upgrade esptool (note I specifically had to use "pip3", not "pip")
...then I was able to execute esptool.py
2. esptool.py didn't work though, because the virtual com port wasn't showing up as a device. I had to install a driver from Silicon Labs, which I got here:
[driver for the CP210X USB to UART bridge from Silicon Labs](https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers)
After I installed that, esptool.py was completely happy and the firmware loaded right up.
FIXME - instead look for standard solutions. this approach seems really suboptimal, because too many nodes will try to rebroast. If
all else fails could always use the stock Radiohead solution - though super inefficient.
great source of papers and class notes: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~cs647/
TODO:
- DONE reread the radiohead mesh implementation - hop to hop acknoledgement seems VERY expensive but otherwise it seems like DSR
- DONE read about mesh routing solutions (DSR and AODV)
- DONE read about general mesh flooding solutions (naive, MPR, geo assisted)
- DONE reread the disaster radio protocol docs - seems based on Babel (which is AODVish)
- possibly dash7? https://www.slideshare.net/MaartenWeyn1/dash7-alliance-protocol-technical-presentation https://github.com/MOSAIC-LoPoW/dash7-ap-open-source-stack - does the opensource stack implement multihop routing? flooding? their discussion mailing list looks dead-dead
- update duty cycle spreadsheet for our typical usecase
- generalize naive flooding on top of radiohead or disaster.radio? (and fix radiohead to use my new driver)
a description of DSR: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4728 good slides here: https://www.slideshare.net/ashrafmath/dynamic-source-routing
good description of batman protocol: https://www.open-mesh.org/projects/open-mesh/wiki/BATMANConcept
interesting paper on lora mesh: https://portal.research.lu.se/portal/files/45735775/paper.pdf
It seems like DSR might be the algorithm used by RadioheadMesh. DSR is described in https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4728
Use naive flooding at first (FIXME - do some math for a 20 node, 3 hop mesh. A single flood will require a max of 20 messages sent)
Then move to MPR later (http://www.olsr.org/docs/report_html/node28.html). Use altitude and location as heursitics in selecting the MPR set
compare to db sync algorithm?
what about never flooding gps broadcasts. instead only have them go one hop in the common case, but if any node X is looking at the position of Y on their gui, then send a unicast to Y asking for position update. Y replies.
If Y were to die, at least the neighbor nodes of Y would have their last known position of Y.
## approach 1
- send all broadcasts with a TTL
- periodically(?) do a survey to find the max TTL that is needed to fully cover the current network.
- to do a study first send a broadcast (maybe our current initial user announcement?) with TTL set to one (so therefore no one will rebroadcast our request)
- survey replies are sent unicast back to us (and intervening nodes will need to keep the route table that they have built up based on past packets)
- count the number of replies to this TTL 1 attempt. That is the number of nodes we can reach without any rebroadcasts
- repeat the study with a TTL of 2 and then 3. stop once the # of replies stops going up.
- it is important for any node to do listen before talk to prevent stomping on other rebroadcasters...
- For these little networks I bet a max TTL would never be higher than 3?
## approach 2
- send a TTL1 broadcast, the replies let us build a list of the nodes (stored as a bitvector?) that we can see (and their rssis)
- we then broadcast out that bitvector (also TTL1) asking "can any of ya'll (even indirectly) see anyone else?"
- if a node can see someone I missed (and they are the best person to see that node), they reply (unidirectionally) with the missing nodes and their rssis (other nodes might sniff (and update their db) based on this reply but they don't have to)
- given that the max number of nodes in this mesh will be like 20 (for normal cases), I bet globally updating this db of "nodenums and who has the best rssi for packets from that node" would be useful
- once the global DB is shared, when a node wants to broadcast, it just sends out its broadcast . the first level receivers then make a decision "am I the best to rebroadcast to someone who likely missed this packet?" if so, rebroadcast
## approach 3
- when a node X wants to know other nodes positions, it broadcasts its position with want_replies=true. Then each of the nodes that received that request broadcast their replies (possibly by using special timeslots?)
- all nodes constantly update their local db based on replies they witnessed.
- after 10s (or whatever) if node Y notices that it didn't hear a reply from node Z (that Y has heard from recently ) to that initial request, that means Z never heard the request from X. Node Y will reply to X on Z's behalf.
- could this work for more than one hop? Is more than one hop needed? Could it work for sending messages (i.e. for a msg sent to Z with want-reply set).
## approach 4
look into the literature for this idea specifically.
- don't view it as a mesh protocol as much as a "distributed db unification problem". When nodes talk to nearby nodes they work together
to update their nodedbs. Each nodedb would have a last change date and any new changes that only one node has would get passed to the
other node. This would nicely allow distant nodes to propogate their position to all other nodes (eventually).
- handle group messages the same way, there would be a table of messages and time of creation.
- when a node has a new position or message to send out, it does a broadcast. All the adjacent nodes update their db instantly (this handles 90% of messages I'll bet).
- Occasionally a node might broadcast saying "anyone have anything newer than time X?" If someone does, they send the diffs since that date.
- essentially everything in this variant becomes broadcasts of "request db updates for >time X - for _all_ or for a particular nodenum" and nodes sending (either due to request or because they changed state) "here's a set of db updates". Every node is constantly trying to
build the most recent version of reality, and if some nodes are too far, then nodes closer in will eventually forward their changes to the distributed db.
- construct non ambigious rules for who broadcasts to request db updates. ideally the algorithm should nicely realize node X can see most other nodes, so they should just listen to all those nodes and minimize the # of broadcasts. the distributed picture of nodes rssi could be useful here?
- possibly view the BLE protocol to the radio the same way - just a process of reconverging the node/msgdb database.
# Old notes
FIXME, merge into the above:
good description of batman protocol: https://www.open-mesh.org/projects/open-mesh/wiki/BATMANConcept
interesting paper on lora mesh: https://portal.research.lu.se/portal/files/45735775/paper.pdf
It seems like DSR might be the algorithm used by RadioheadMesh. DSR is described in https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4728
Use naive flooding at first (FIXME - do some math for a 20 node, 3 hop mesh. A single flood will require a max of 20 messages sent)
Then move to MPR later (http://www.olsr.org/docs/report_html/node28.html). Use altitude and location as heursitics in selecting the MPR set
compare to db sync algorithm?
what about never flooding gps broadcasts. instead only have them go one hop in the common case, but if any node X is looking at the position of Y on their gui, then send a unicast to Y asking for position update. Y replies.
If Y were to die, at least the neighbor nodes of Y would have their last known position of Y.
Minimum items needed to make sure hardware is good.
- DONE select and install a bootloader (adafruit)
- DONE get old radio driver working on NRF52
- DONE basic test of BLE
- DONE get a debug 'serial' console working via the ICE passthrough feature
- switch to RadioLab? test it with current radio. https://github.com/jgromes/RadioLib
- use "variants" to get all gpio bindings
- plug in correct variants for the real board
- Use the PMU driver on real hardware
- add a NEMA based GPS driver to test GPS
- Use new radio driver on real hardware - possibly start with https://os.mbed.com/teams/Semtech/code/SX126xLib/
- Use UC1701 LCD driver on real hardware. Still need to create at startup and probe on SPI
- test the LEDs
- test the buttons
- make a new boarddef with a variant.h file. Fix pins in that file. In particular (at least):
#define PIN_SPI_MISO (46)
#define PIN_SPI_MOSI (45)
#define PIN_SPI_SCK (47)
#define PIN_WIRE_SDA (26)
#define PIN_WIRE_SCL (27)
## Secondary work items
Needed to be fully functional at least at the same level of the ESP32 boards. At this point users would probably want them.
- enable BLE DFU somehow
- set appversion/hwversion
- report appversion/hwversion in BLE
- use new LCD driver from screen.cpp. Still need to hook it to a subclass of (poorly named) OLEDDisplay, and override display() to stream bytes out to the screen.
- get full BLE api working
- we need to enable the external xtal for the sx1262 (on dio3)
- figure out which regulator mode the sx1262 is operating in
- turn on security for BLE, make pairing work
- make power management/sleep work properly
- make a settimeofday implementation
- make a file system implementation (preferably one that can see the files the bootloader also sees) - use https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/com.nordic.infocenter.sdk5.v15.3.0/lib_fds_usage.html?cp=7_5_0_3_55_3
- make ble endpoints not require "start config", just have them start in config mode
- measure power management and confirm battery life
- use new PMU to provide battery voltage/% full to app (both bluetooth and screen)
- do initial power measurements
## Items to be 'feature complete'
- good power management tips: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/optimizing-power-on-nrf52-designs
- call PMU set_ADC_CONV(0) during sleep, to stop reading PMU adcs and decrease current draw
- do final power measurements
- backport the common PMU API between AXP192 and PmuBQ25703A
- use the new buttons in the UX
- currently using soft device SD140, is that ideal?
- turn on the watchdog timer, require servicing from key application threads
- install a hardfault handler for null ptrs (if one isn't already installed)
## Things to do 'someday'
Nice ideas worth considering someday...
- Currently we use Nordic's vendor ID, which is apparently okay: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/44014/using-nordic-vid-and-pid-for-nrf52840 and I just picked a PID of 0x4403
- Use NRF logger module (includes flash logging etc...) instead of DEBUG_MSG
- Use "LED softblink" library on NRF52 to do nice pretty "breathing" LEDs. Don't whack LED from main thread anymore.
- decrease BLE xmit power "At 0dBm with the DC/DC on, the nRF52832 transmitter draws 5.3mA. Increasing the TX power to +4dBm adds only 2.2mA. Decreasing it to -40 dBm saves only 2.6mA."
- in addition to the main CPU watchdog, use the PMU watchdog as a really big emergency hammer
- turn on 'shipping mode' in the PMU when device is 'off' - to cut battery draw to essentially zero
- make Lorro_BQ25703A read/write operations atomic, current version could let other threads sneak in (once we start using threads)
- turn on DFU assistance in the appload using the nordic DFU helper lib call
- make the segger logbuffer larger, move it to RAM that is preserved across reboots and support reading it out at runtime (to allow full log messages to be included in crash reports). Share this code with ESP32 (use gcc noinit attribute)
- convert hardfaults/panics/asserts/wd exceptions into fault codes sent to phone
- stop enumerating all i2c devices at boot, it wastes power & time
- consider using "SYSTEMOFF" deep sleep mode, without RAM retension. Only useful for 'truly off - wake only by button press' only saves 1.5uA vs SYSTEMON. (SYSTEMON only costs 1.5uA). Possibly put PMU into shipping mode?
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