CRISiSLab Meshtastic Network
What is the purpose of this network
This network has two purposes
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Improve the existing public network
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Act as a testbed for wider CRISiSLab LoRa projects that focus on solving communication challenges in disaster related use cases such as search and rescue, earthquake early warning, and infrastructure damage reconnaissance.
Network testing
After the initial network was setup as shown in the map, we performed test to evaluate the coverage the network provided. The test involved our hosts sending a message in the morning and sending us a screenshot of the messages they received in the evening.
After reviewing the results of these tests we found that the CBD has adequate coverage. However many surrounding suburbs had incomplete or no coverage. Island bay had incomplete coverage. The node there could recieve messages but, not many people recieved its message. Nodes in Karori had a different kind of incomplete coverage. They were able to send and message recieve messages, but only got some and only some nodes received their messages.
Surprisingly nodes in Churton Park had very good coverage. This is likely due to the large concentration of public nodes in the area. The message that travelled the longest were those from a node in Churton Park to a node in Island Bay.
Mesh network monitoring and managment system
The system consists of multiple servers, a webapp, an MQTT Broker, and customized firmware. The purpose of the system is to allow us to monitor and change settings in Meshtastic nodes that we may deploy in hard to reach areas.
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The API server stores the latest data from the mesh network which is transported over LoRa to nodes with internet access which send data over MQTT to the server. Users then use the web application to view this data and change settings. These changes are sent back the way data came in.
