Scott Powell has published a new tutorial to the Hackster.io website this week providing instructions on how to set up your very own LoRa Mesh Chat system that is capable of working without a cellular network and is perfect for disaster scenarios or as a way to send SMS style messaging to a group without the need for cell coverage. Powel explains a little more about the project using Ripple Messenger.
“This is a fairly simple add-on for mobile phones to enable SMS-like messaging in a group when outside cell coverage, or in disaster scenarios. It utilises Semtech LoRa radios, for low-power/long-range communications. There are a lot of hardware options, and I am still trying different devices and manufacturers, but for now this tutorial will show how to assemble and setup one of the following boards: TTGO ESP32 Lora with OLED or Adafruit Feather M0 RFM96.”
“The companion app for this is called Ripple Messenger. Currently there is only an Android version, which you can download from the Play store: Ripple Messenger Each person in your group must be allocated a unique numerical ID, between 1 and 254. You need to sort this out among yourselves. There’s no central server for coordinating. You can also (optionally) organise into sub-groups by assigning yourselves with different Group-IDs (again, between 1 and 254). By default you can all just stay in group zero. The groups are like ‘channels’, and will form separate mesh networks.”
For full instructions on how to build your very own LoRa Mesh Chat system jump over the Hackster.io website by following the link below.
Source: Hackster.io