Meshtastic Example in Emergency Communication

Öz

The potential damage, loss, and injury from natural events, timing and location of which are uncertain, can lead to unpredictable natural disasters, posing significant threats to humanity. As a result of these disasters, people lose their lives or are injured, and living spaces become unusable or inoperable for extended periods. Immediately after these natural disasters, it is very important for aid teams to maintain uninterrupted communication with each other and with crisis management centers established in the disaster area in order to deliver emergency medical and humanitarian aid to injured and in need. Existing communication systems can become unusable, either partially or completely due to the impact of a natural disaster, or even if undamaged, due to uncontrolled post-disaster communication traffic. These adverse conditions cause significant difficulties in communicating with emergency medical aid, search, and rescue teams. For this purpose, this study utilizes using LoRa radio transceivers communication nodes developed by a project called Meshtastic, which utilizes radio frequencies and does not utilize existing communication infrastructure. LoRa radio transceivers use the ISM band, which is used for Industrial, Scientific and Medical Devices and does not require any licensing in many countries, including ours. These handheld nodes can conduct encrypted or unencrypted written communication among themselves. Furthermore, the coordinates of the nodes can be tracked using GPS receivers, and surrounding nodes can be tracked as well. Furthermore, the modules’ built-in Wi-Fi hardware connects to the system’s internet infrastructure, enabling all handheld nodes in the network to communicate simultaneously, either individually or in their entirety. All terminals in the network can be tracked on a map via the Meshtastic application and communicated through the application. In this study, three nodes operating at 433 MHz and 868 MHz were created, enabling communication with each other from different locations via both radio frequency and the Meshtastic application. This study successfully tested Meshtastic, an alternative communication method that can be used in extraordinary situations such as natural disasters by communicating with Meshtastic nodes without relying on the existing communication infrastructure that is used in daily life. The main objective of this study was to successfully establish communication between nodes using the ISM band, without requiring any internet infrastructure or specific usage permits or licenses.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Meshtastic
• LoRa
• disaster
• communication

Kaynakça

1. A. S. Prasad and L. H. Francescutti, "Natural disasters," International encyclopedia of public health, p. 215, 2016, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803678-5.00519-1.
2. J. Dhanasekar, M. I. Niranjana, G. Suresh, S. Surya, R. Thirugnanabharathi, and K. G. Prasath, "Hazardous Area Monitoring System in Industries Using Lora Module," in 2023 9th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication Systems (ICACCS), 2023, vol. 1: IEEE, pp. 2062-2066, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICACCS57279.2023.10113005.
3. M.-Y. Chung, Y.-D. Lu, C.-H. Lee, S.-Y. Kuo, and L.-B. Chen, "A Wearable IoT-Based Rescue System Using LoRa Mesh Network and Physiological Monitoring for Mountain Emergency Response," in 2025 IEEE 14th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE), 2025: IEEE, pp. 1102-1103, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/GCCE65946.2025.11274898.
4. Meshtastic. "Introduction." Meshtastic official website. https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction/ (accessed Oct 25, 2025).
5. D. Menićanin, J. Radanović, and D. Marinković, "Implementation of a Meshtastic Gateway System With a Local Database for Iot Applications," Journal of Information Technology & Applications, vol. 15, no. 2, 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.7251/JIT2502085M.
6. S. Cass, "Putting a BBS on the Air: Microsocial Media Comes to Meshtastic," IEEE Spectrum, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 16-18, 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2025.10990323.
7. Shenzhen, "LILYGO TTGO T-Beam Datasheet", R 1.1, 2024, [Online] Available: https://lilygo.cc/products/t-beam
8. S. Cass, "It's Meshtastic!> LoRa-based Tech Brings Mesh Radio to Makers," IEEE Spectrum, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 16-18, 2024, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10551793.

9. A. Lavric and A. I. Petrariu, "LoRaWAN communication protocol: The new era of IoT," in 2018 International Conference on Development and Application Systems (DAS), 2018: IEEE, pp. 74-77, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/DAAS.2018.8396074.
10. F. Messina, C. Santoro, and F. F. Santoro, "Enhancing security and trust in internet of things through meshtastic protocol utilising low-range technology," Electronics, vol. 13, no. 6, p. 1055, 2024, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13061055.
11. O. B. Seller and N. Sornin, "Low power long range transmitter," ed: Google Patents, 2016.
12. F. Sforza, "Communications system," ed: Google Patents, 2013.
13. L. Vangelista, "Frequency shift chirp modulation: The LoRa modulation," IEEE signal processing letters, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 1818-1821, 2017, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/LSP.2017.2762960.
14. L. Vangelista, A. Zanella, and M. Zorzi, "Long-range IoT technologies: The dawn of LoRa™," in Future access enablers of ubiquitous and intelligent infrastructures: Springer, 2015, pp. 51-58.
15. M. Centenaro, L. Vangelista, A. Zanella, and M. Zorzi, "Long-range communications in unlicensed bands: The rising stars in the IoT and smart city scenarios," IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 60-67, 2016, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2016.7721743.
16. A. Augustin, J. Yi, T. Clausen, and W. M. Townsley, "A study of LoRa: Long range & low power networks for the internet of things," Sensors, vol. 16, no. 9, p. 1466, 2016, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/s16091466.
17. C. Bouras, A. Gkamas, V. Kokkinos, and N. Papachristos, "Using LoRa technology for IoT monitoring systems," in 2019 10th International Conference on Networks of the Future (NoF), 2019: IEEE, pp. 134-137, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/NoF47743.2019.9014994.
18. AI-Thinker, "LoRa Ra01", V1.0, 2024, [Online] Available: https://en.ai-thinker.com/Uploads/file/20240927/20240927114430_30249.pdf
19. Semtech, "SX1261/2 Datasheet", Rev 2.2 , Dec 2024, [Online] Available: https://semtech.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/E0000000JelG/a/RQ000008nKCH/hp2iKwMDKWl34g1D3LBf_zC7TGBRIo2ff5LMnS8r19s
20. Semtech, "SX1676/78 Datasheet", Rev 7, May 2020, [Online] Available: https://semtech.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/E0000000JelG/a/2R0000001Rc1/QnUuV9TviODKUgt_rpBlPz.EZA_PNK7Rpi8HA5..Sbo
21. RAKwireless, "RAK4631 WisBlock LoRaWAN Module Datasheet", Rev 0, 2013, [Online] Available: https://docs.rakwireless.com/product-categories/wisblock/rak4631/datasheet/
22. Shenzhen, "LILYGO® TTGO T-Echo Datasheet", V 1.0, 2022, [Online] Available: https://lilygo.cc/products/t-echo-lilygo
23. Shenzhen, "HELTEC® LoRa 32 Wireless Stick Lite V3 Datasheet", Rev 1.1, 2022, [Online] Available: https://heltec.org/project/wireless-stick-lite-v2/
24. Shenzhen, "HELTEC LoRa32 V3/V3.1 Datasheet", Rev 1.1, 2022, [Online] Available: https://heltec.org/project/wifi-lora-32-v3/
25. Shenzhen, "Wireless Tracker v1.0 Datasheet", Rev 1.1, 2023, [Online] Available: https://heltec.org/project/wireless-tracker/
26. M5stack, "Unit CardKB v1.1 Datasheet", v1.1, 2024, [Online] Available: https://docs.m5stack.com/en/unit/cardkb_1.1