One antenna on the roof, and the village starts talking.
LoRa antennas the size of a hand, up on people's roofs. They pass the messages along, roof to roof. No operator, and it holds when the network doesn't.
How a LoRa mesh network works
Everyone puts up their own
On a roof, a mast, a water tower. The higher it sits, the further it carries.
They pass it along
The message hops from antenna to antenna. If one stops, it takes another path.
It runs on its own
A 5 W solar panel is enough. No server, no bill, nothing to cut off.
When the mobile network goes down
A mobile mast lasts a few hours on battery. A LoRa node lasts years.
Outage
Storm, flood, power cut
Storm, flood, power cut
Mobile networks collapse within hours once the power goes. The mesh has no single point to lose.
Blind spot
Where there has never been coverage
Where there has never been coverage
Valleys, uplands, basements. Never worth covering for an operator; one roof relay is enough.
Congestion
Coordinating when the cells are saturated
Coordinating when the cells are saturated
At a big event the mobile cells saturate. An independent channel keeps volunteers in touch.
NodeWeave replaces neither 112 nor the official networks. It is one more channel, one that does not depend on the same infrastructure. In an emergency, call 112.
Where the network stands today
Almost all of it is still in Hainaut and Namur, where the project started. But an antenna in Riga would join the very same network.
What they sit on
- 6on a mast
- 4on a roof
- 4on a water tower
- 1on a pylon
- 1other support
Two ways to connect
Put up an antenna, or wait for the app. One extends the network, the other uses it.
Put up an antenna
A module from €22, an evening of assembly, and your roof carries for the neighbours.
- Order a module From €22 to €80, depending on whether it stays indoors or goes on the roof.
- Flash the firmware From your browser, with a USB cable. About twenty minutes.
- Tell us where it is So others can see where it carries, and where it still doesn't.
From your phone
Writing without internet: Bluetooth close by, NodeWeave relays further out.
- No account, ever No sign-up, no e-mail, no password. A token checks the encryption, that's all.
- Bluetooth near, NodeWeave far Close by, phones talk directly. Further out, the message goes through the relays.
- Your phone becomes a relay Every phone can relay the others. The more there are, the further it carries.
- When something breaks, everyone is called When something fails, a notification offers to turn on relay mode.
Open protocol, and checkable
Public protocol, off-the-shelf hardware. Nothing ties you to us, and that is deliberate.
The protocol is public
How the nodes talk to each other is published. Anyone can implement it or audit it.
See the repository on GitHub →The hardware is not proprietary
Ordinary LoRa modules from the shelf. We sell nothing, and no part depends on us.
Nothing to buy from usWe talk on Discord
Beginners' questions, failures, builds that hold. That's where it happens.
Join the Discord →