Discovering Long Range Radio Communications (LORA)
My experiences with LORA radio communications using the Reticulum Network Stack to build networks
2024-12-26
N.B This blog post is ongoing and will be added to as I continue to develop my own LORA Networks
I first came across Long Range (LORA) radio communications as a form of passing messages when I encountered Meshtastic, an open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices. Meshtastic is used predominently in the US as a form of communication in post disaster situations.
I looked into Meshastic with, not only, post disaster situations in mind but also as a way to communicate in mountain situations when there is no cell signal. Would it be more efficient than Walkie Talkies (PMR446 radio) which have limited range and, from my experience, usually line of sight only?
From my initial research on the internet I then came across the Open Source, Reticulum Network Stack.
Reticulum is the cryptography-based networking stack for building local and wide-area networks with readily available hardware. Reticulum can continue to operate even in adverse conditions with very high latency and extremely low bandwidth.
The vision of Reticulum is to allow anyone to operate their own sovereign communication networks, and to make it cheap and easy to cover vast areas with a myriad of independent, interconnectable and autonomous networks.
What I liked about Reticulum over Meshtastic was the way that it wasn't just about LORA radio, it included any networks that were available at the time. Not just LORA but WiFi, TCP, UDP, Ethernet or Bluetooth. It searched out for whatever network it could find to transport through. For me, this gave it an advantage over the more popular Meshtastic system.
Reticulum is built by a small team of very clever and committed enthusiasts led by Mark. An interesting project!
There are plenty of places to ask for support too:
The discussion forum on GitHub
The Reticulum Matrix Channel at #reticulum:matrix.org
The Reticulum subreddit
Installation and Testing Progress
I purchased 2 x LILYGO TTGO LoRa32 V2.1_1.6 versión 433/868/915Mhz ESP32 LoRa OLED 0,96 pulgadas tarjeta SD Bluetooth WIFI módulo inalámbrico ESP-32 SMA
These small boards come with small antennas included. I purchased each board for under €22.
Note: Here in Europe I am using 868MHz in my set ups
Linux Laptop
The Reticulum manual gave me good instructions to install the Rnode firmware on my Linux (PopOS/Ubuntu) Laptop. I attached a Lora Board and was able to communicate with my Android phone via Nomadnet. So far so good.
Android Phones
Installing on an Android phone was even easier using the Sideband App (also available on IOS Testflight). The configuration was somewhat complicated by all the terminology but working through it bit by bit and with the aid of helful tips from the App itself, it all worked out.
Connection Achieved!
I was able to communicate between 2 Android phones or from one phone to my Linux Laptop. Not only could I send text messages but I also had the ability to send low quality images, voice messages or a PTT (Push To Talk) funcion.
Another plus point for me with the Sideband app was the ability to show positions of both transceiver and receiver on a map. Location needs to be enabled on the phone for this to function.
Mobiles connected via LORA radios Mobiles connected via LORA radios
Test 20-Dec-2024
Distance test to bottom of our land. Easily sent messages from 100m away
Distance tests moving away from my house Initial distance tests moving away from my house
Test 26-Dec-2024
Distance test from the dog walk. Initially all went well. From the "acequia" bridge above my house (335m away) I sent a message with successful delivery.
Thereafter as I walked along the ridgeline I had a series of 12 "Failures to Send". What was going on? I thought that maybe we had some interference from local mobile phone towers but moving away from them continued to report successive failures.
My wife, Kiersten, hit on the answer. My phone at home had gone into sleep mode. Sideband had shutdown as a result. Of course, why didn't I think of that. Doh! This was confirmed as soon as I returned home.
No test is a failure. It's all a learning experience. You learn and move on. I shall repeat the test tomorrow with phone sleep mode turned off.
Test 26-Dec-2024
Managed to get repeated LOS (Line Of Sight) signals delevered from ridgeline. Approx distances involved 250m-350m. Also managed to send image from my camera via Low Bandwidth option (see below)
JOOS (Just Out Of Sight) messages also sent sucessfully.
Failures on OOS (Out Of Sight) messages.
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