Episode 23
Meshtastic - The Beginning of a Vertical
Jonathan Bennett, core developer and co-founder of Meshtastic Solutions, and Tony Good, hardware designer and entrepreneur, talk about the evolution of Meshtastic from a grassroots mesh network to a tool with real commercial potential.
Meshtastic began as a communication system for hikers and adventurers operating beyond cell coverage. Today, it’s proving useful in disaster response, search and rescue, vehicle tracking, and other use cases where reliable, off-grid communication is essential. Jonathan explains how the core team, alongside a global group of contributors, is hardening the platform with better encryption, Linux support, and integration tools to make it easier for businesses to adopt.
Tony shares how he built a business around designing rugged, user-friendly Meshtastic cases and complete devices, helping users deploy the tech without needing to source and print their own enclosures. He highlights how demand for ready-made devices has grown as more public service organizations and small businesses explore using Meshtastic.
Together, they talk about:
- Meshtastic’s value in off-grid communication for emergency response and field operations
- Real-world examples including blackout recovery in Portugal and large-scale search and rescue
- How sensors are starting to be integrated to expand Meshtastic’s capabilities beyond messaging
- Opportunities to bridge small mesh networks with the internet using MQTT
- The role of Meshtastic Solutions in providing consulting and vendor partnerships to support adoption in business contexts
Meshtastic is at the start of a vertical shift from hobbyist project to deployable infrastructure—and this episode shows where it’s going next.
Links:
Company site: https://meshtastic.com/
- Helium Global IoT Coverage - Want to know if Helium coverage exists where you need it? Check out this map!
- Helium Foundation - The Helium Foundation's IoT Working Group (IOTWG) has generously provided support for the first 6 months of shows, please go check them out and consider using the Helium LoRaWAN as a primary or backup on your next deployment. With over a quarter million gateways deployed worldwide, it's likely that you have and can use Helium coverage.
- Support The Show - If you'd like to support the MetSci Show financially, here's where you can donate on a one-time or an ongoing basis. Thank you!
- MetSci Show - If you'd like to use our IoT or AI Data Value calculators, or you'd like to contact me, the MetSci Show site is the best way to do it.
- MeteoScientific Console - Use LoRaWAN - The MeteoScientific Console allows you to use LoRaWAN today. As long as you have Helium coverage (and you probably do, about 90% of populated areas in the world have a gateway within 2 miles), you can onboard a sensor. You can always check coverage at https://explorer.helium.com and switch to the "IoT" tab in the top right.
Transcript
Today's guests on MeteoScientifc's
2
:The Business of LoRaWAN
are Jonathan Bennett and Tony Good.,
3
:two of the core contributors
to the Meshtastic Open Source project
4
:and co-founders of Meshtastic solutions.
5
:Jonathan is one of the lead
developers behind Meshtastic’s
6
:firmware and Linux integration.
7
:while Tony designs rugged
8
:purpose built cases
9
:and complete devices that make the system
usable in the real world.
10
:Together with the wider team
of developers, engineers and contributors,
11
:they're helping shape the future of off
grid mesh communications.
12
:In this episode, we talk through
real world use cases like disaster
13
:response in Portugal, low cost
search and rescue deployments in the US,
14
:and how small businesses and agencies
are beginning to use Meshtastic for GPS
15
:tRAKing,
environmental monitoring, and more.
16
:You'll also hear how they're working
with vendors like RAK to onboard sensors,
17
:everything from compasses to rain gauges,
and why this lightweight LoRa
18
:based system is gaining interest
19
:from state governments
and even enterprise teams inside Amazon.
20
:Whether you're a business
evaluating Meshtastic for your use case,
21
:or just curious how open source projects
scale into commercial grade solutions,
22
:Jonathan and Tony bring clarity
and insight from the front lines.
23
:This episode is sponsored by the Helium
Foundation's IoT working Group.
24
:Helium offers global LoRaWAN coverage
and is used by everyone
25
:from hobbyists to businesses
deploying countrywide networks.
26
:If you'd like to see if Helium
coverage exists near you,
27
:check out the links in the show notes
to get started using Helium today.
28
:You can sign up for a console account
29
:with MeteoScientifc
at console.meteoscientific.com
30
:Now let's dig into the conversation
with Jonathan Bennett and Tony Good.
31
:Jonathan.
32
:Tony,
welcome to The Business of LoRaWAN show.
33
:Thanks for coming
on, guys. Hey, Nik. It's good to be here.
34
:Thank you.
35
:I'm psyched to have you guys on.
36
:I thought we'd start this off.
37
:We may kind of back into this. Okay.
38
:With how Meshtastic started
and certainly how you guys found it.
39
:And I found it.
40
:But do you have a favorite
Meshtastic story?
41
:Ooh, that is a really good question.
42
:So yeah, a lot of the things you talk
about here on the show is very business
43
:centric.
44
:Meshtastic is kind of slowly
moving that way.
45
:We feel like there's some things
that might make sense for businesses,
46
:but for the vast majority of use cases
right now, it's individuals.
47
:And, you know, kind of the initial idea
was it's a dudes
48
:out on a hike together out past
where their cell phones work.
49
:And so that has kind of turned into a lot
of people have looked at that and gone
50
:disaster preparedness.
51
:And so we've got kind of a big community
thinking about that right now.
52
:My favorite story is back a couple of
months ago in Portugal and Spain.
53
:Power grid
went down for like a couple of days.
54
:It was kind of a big deal for them.
55
:There were some tourists
that also happened to be Meshtastic users,
56
:and they were staying like out
in the villa somewhere in Portugal,
57
:and the lights just went off
and they're like, what is going on?
58
:They had their Meshtastic devices.
59
:They pulled their Meshtastic device out
and just sent over the public mesh.
60
:So, you know, the people that are in
within a couple of mile area,
61
:what's going on?
62
:The locals that were
there were able to get news
63
:and they knew what was going on.
64
:And were telling them, giving back
the answer.
65
:Power grid went down
maybe down for a couple of days.
66
:And so these tourists, these guys
that, you know,
67
:legitimately could have been in a tough
spot,
68
:were able to get news and get updates
over the mesh using Meshtastic
69
:and kind of stay abreast
of what's going on right now.
70
:That's my that's my favorite story
of things I've heard people doing.
71
:Rad doesn't get much better.
72
:Tony, what he got, mine's very easy.
73
:Dovetailing off what Jonathan started
with.
74
:I'm more of the I was looking for an off
grid com solution.
75
:I was in the army for 20 years,
so I like simplicity
76
:and I live in Maryland
and way out in western Maryland.
77
:It's better
now, but cell coverage used to be abysmal.
78
:So you go out in the woods, you'd hike,
79
:you see the sights, and at the time
to double down on terrible comms.
80
:I had T-Mobile
81
:no towers in the area, so I went out there
basically, like alone and afraid.
82
:Primitive, you know,
smoke signal level type, you know?
83
:Yeah, capabilities.
84
:So I realized
I needed something that could communicate
85
:at least a 1 to 2km in very dense
vegetation.
86
:The Meshtastic easily does that.
87
:Since then, I switched to Verizon.
88
:They built towers because a lot
more wealthy people moved out there,
89
:so they know their customer base,
90
:and it's better now,
but it's still great to have a backup.
91
:Very, very cool.
92
:I think we all came to it
in different ways.
93
:I found Meshtastic funnily enough, through
searching for a lost paraglider.
94
:So it's always like the use case
that drives it.
95
:So it started off as being used
96
:for hikers, bikers,
you know, folks out there, pilots.
97
:Kevin has kicked the whole thing off
98
:and he's a paraglider pilot,
if I remember correctly.
99
:And now it's
starting to move into business.
100
:So someone's listening to this
and they've heard about LoRaWAN,
101
:they've heard about Meshtastic,
and they're wondering
102
:if they could
or should use it in their business.
103
:Maybe we start off
104
:by talking about what businesses
are you guys seeing use Meshtastic.
105
:We're still in kind of the initial stages.
106
:So we have recently launched Meshtastic
Solutions, which is our business
107
:kind of around trying to turn this thing
into accessible to businesses.
108
:Right.
109
:Like that's
one of the things that we're trying to do
110
:is have a place where businesses
could come and get support,
111
:and we've got reach out from
one of them, is like a state government,
112
:one of these big states
that's out in the middle of nowhere.
113
:You can probably do the math
and figure out where I'm talking about.
114
:But you have pilots that'll be out there
and, you know, they're far
115
:enough out that maybe their regular radio
doesn't work all that well.
116
:And so they're looking for like a way
to get weather updates in the air.
117
:And so this is a potentially
a pretty big use that's coming.
118
:I am also aware of apparently people
at Amazon are looking into this.
119
:And I'm not sure all of the things
120
:that they're using looking to use it for
that's not live yet, but we just
121
:we got told
that they're kind of looking at it.
122
:And so we're still kind of exploring
and mapping out like,
123
:where does this make sense?
124
:I tell you I use it,
I've got one of these in my vehicle
125
:and it has a GPS in it,
and it sends back location beacons
126
:and so I can tRAK
where my vehicle is around town.
127
:And so, you know, there's a use case
for stuff like that, basically anything
128
:where you want to be able to do
location tRAKing, it's pretty good at.
129
:Cool, Tony, anything to add to that
that you're seeing?
130
:Yeah, I guess it's semi commercial.
131
:More of a public services standpoint.
132
:There are many search
and rescue organizations around the US
133
:that have adopted Meshtastic as at least
a secondary communications platform.
134
:They have the radios.
135
:The problem with those things,
136
:especially
the ones that are like satellite,
137
:you know, connected, they can cost upwards
of 5 to $800 per radio.
138
:So if you have one of those
as your primary,
139
:so you have a group of like 50 people,
140
:you want to canvass an area
looking for a lost kid.
141
:You have five of those radios.
142
:You have five groups of ten people.
143
:One of those people has,
you know, the parent,
144
:the leader has their expensive radio.
145
:And then you have a bunch of 30 to $40
Meshtastic nodes.
146
:They can scatter around
people can communicate with each other,
147
:the person with the main radio
and relay that stuff.
148
:So really it's as I'd say, as we say
in the military, it's a force multiplier
149
:in a big way for those organizations.
150
:So it's that and also
I think there's been an interesting
151
:use case was
somebody used to do off road truck racing
152
:and they were they were using some custom
settings to tRAK trucks in real time
153
:at high speed, to be able
to see where they were and plot that
154
:on a custom map, which I thought was
a really cool use case.
155
:That is super cool.
156
:I know Shawn over at K 38, she does jet
ski rescue she worked Katrina and Harvey.
157
:She worked a bunch of the big disasters
we've had here in the US,
158
:and she got wind of Meshtastic
and got a bunch of these things
159
:for her next, for the next disaster
that comes down the pipe.
160
:So good to see that.
161
:Let's see where the sensors fit in.
162
:This thing started off as kind of
163
:just a couple people
164
:talking to each other,
and now I'm seeing like,
165
:oh yeah, let's feed
some sensor data into the network.
166
:Yeah.
167
:So we've got
one of our vendors is RAK Wireless.
168
:And you know,
they're all about IoT things.
169
:But one of their big
one of the cool things that they do
170
:is they make a whole bunch
of sensor modules.
171
:And so they've got the boards.
172
:It's actually here
I've got you wouldn't know it
173
:by looking at it, but this is a RAK 4631
inside of this thing.
174
:And so they've got their whole ecosystem
of like snap on modules.
175
:And so you can do this one
in fact has a compass sensor in it.
176
:And so you know, it'll tell you
which direction you're pointing.
177
:So if you're out again out in the middle
of nowhere, you can navigate.
178
:But we can snap in temperature sensors.
179
:We are there's a, like humidity,
180
:I think there's even a soil
monitoring sensor.
181
:And then one of the things
that we're doing
182
:as Solutions is we're working with RAK
to like we support
183
:a bunch of them already,
but to expand kind of the list.
184
:And so RAK
has recently sent us an earthquake sensor.
185
:I think we have a radiation sensor coming.
186
:There's a couple of people
187
:that make like rain gauges
and weather monitoring stations
188
:that are Meshtastic powered.
Those are pretty cool.
189
:So like there's a lot
190
:the list is huge and I can't think
of all of them off the top of my head,
191
:but it's growing and people are doing
interesting things with that too.
192
:And so there's there's no limit to
what can get sent.
193
:I mean, we tend to be human centric
and say, like, I'm going to send you text,
194
:but it's still just data
at the end of the day.
195
:So any sensor it sounds like
can be onboarded to Meshtastic.
196
:Yeah.
If you can serialize your sensor data.
197
:Now, one thing to keep in mind
198
:people need to know
this Meshtastic is not high bandwidth.
199
:It's really low bandwidth.
200
:That is how we have ranges way
way further than Wi-Fi can go
201
:is because we're way slower than Wi-Fi,
right?
202
:It's just it's built into the LoRa center.
203
:And people that know LoRaWAN probably know
this already because it's very similar.
204
:And I guess that's something else to
to make sure we mention.
205
:Meshtastic uses Lora,
but it does not use LoRaWAN.
206
:No, I think of it
207
:a little bit like a moving LoRaWAN
that's not connected to the internet.
208
:So it's just like this bubble of bubbles
209
:that kind of cruise around and goes
wherever you go as long as other devices
210
:there, it's not connected to the internet
that's on you to figure out,
211
:yeah, how to do that.
212
:I would hate for somebody to go to buy
like a:
213
:and then try to get Meshtastic
to talk to that.
214
:I did that once upon a time,
and that project ended in failure.
215
:So don't do that. Don't spend that money.
216
:Sooner or later
it'll it'll end up with the success
217
:because I can't see a reason eventually
to not be able to say, hey,
218
:I'm going to take my small
mobile mesh network and connect
219
:that into some of the largest networks
in the world.
220
:There's no no reason not to do that
other than a bunch of technically complex
221
:reasons.
222
:Yeah, we currently do that
with MQTT to bridge over the internet,
223
:so there's already use cases
that utilize those bridges currently.
224
:So the whole story with that 1301 is
somebody made it as a Raspberry Pi hat,
225
:I forget which vendor it was,
but somebody made this thing. Yep.
226
:And so I'm, I could
probably make this thing work right.
227
:You know, I was I say young and dumb.
228
:It wasn't that long ago, but
I was overambitious about what I could do.
229
:And so I ordered one.
230
:I spent like a hundred bucks on it and
got it and slapped it on the Raspberry Pi.
231
:Started getting to work on it.
232
:And what you what you quickly find out
is like those concentrators,
233
:the ones that are available now,
they're specifically set up for LoRaWAN,
234
:and we use a different sync word
than LoRaWAN does.
235
:And from what I could tell, like
236
:there isn't any way to get into those
and override the sync word.
237
:So that's kind of what the problem
with that one in particular. No
238
:devices
in the future that may be different,
239
:because we have found out that we are
officially on Semtech's radar now.
240
:So that's interesting.
241
:But anyway, I got that
and couldn't get it to work.
242
:I found a kind of an older,
not concentrator,
243
:just a LoRa chip on a Raspberry Pi hat.
244
:I said, well, let me try this.
It actually got that one working.
245
:And so now we have kind of this
whole ecosystem, we call it Meshtastic D
246
:and it is the metastatic
firmware running on.
247
:It's on Linux for now.
248
:We sort of have some hope eventually
249
:making it work on other platforms,
but very Linux centric for now.
250
:But there's like 3 or 4 different devices
251
:that we support
where you can run Meshtastic on a Linux.
252
:No. Whether it's Raspberry Pi or a router,
maybe a desktop computer, a server.
253
:I've got some interesting ideas for that.
254
:And so like those are,
you know, you're now
255
:talking about putting them on the internet
and some, some really interesting things
256
:going on there. Yeah, there's cool stuff
coming on the pipe.
257
:So this is a business centric podcast.
258
:You guys are running Meshtastic Solutions.
This is an open source thing.
259
:So kind of anyone can build this stuff.
But it is technically complex.
260
:It can be a pain in the butt
to figure out.
261
:It's usually easier
just to hire an expert to figure it out.
262
:What are some of the services you offer?
263
:Or maybe some of the
the extra pieces that go into, you know,
264
:I've bought a bunch of these boards
and I go find some
265
:when I started, find some 3D printer
and knock on their door like, hey, would
266
:would you mind printing a case for me?
267
:So walk me through what you guys like.
How are you guys making money?
268
:How you run the business.
269
:So before Solutions existed,
270
:I stood up a, it's on Etsy
because right now it's easiest for me.
271
:But I'd like to expand that.
272
:I started designing what I thought
were more interesting
273
:looking cases at the time.
274
:In 2021 2020, there was just like box
275
:with hole for screen, like there wasn't
a whole lot of writing these things.
276
:Yeah, people did their best, made it.
277
:As we all know,
we look for something functional
278
:and then once starts working,
we start to make it look nice.
279
:So initially
I started with the venerable T-beam.
280
:That was one of the original devices
supported the original T-beam.
281
:Yeah, which people still use.
282
:There's plenty of them out there
and I still make cases for them.
283
:And then I branched out
into the different OEMs as they came out
284
:with these different boards
from RAK, from Heltec from LilyGo.
285
:That does make the T-beam
286
:and came up with and again,
I was in the Army for 20 years.
287
:So, looking for ruggedized,
tactical, military esque kind of look.
288
:Right. Like most radios look like that.
289
:And, you know, I started designing
and printing and selling
290
:both the cases and various parts,
and people can put their own boards
291
:and assemble them in colors,
patterns, whatever.
292
:And then I also,
293
:have sold in the past once the ready made
right out of the box to you.
294
:So they have a device in there
with a battery and all that sort of stuff.
295
:And most of these, you know,
296
:they they attach via Bluetooth to a phone
and your smartphone.
297
:You already have the use mobile apps.
298
:So sometimes you don't need a screen.
299
:You just need the device
and you're using the app.
300
:Sometimes you have one with a screen.
It has a little bit of info on it.
301
:It's useful,
but you're still using your app right?
302
:But what if you don't want to use a phone?
303
:You don't want to depend on the phone,
or you don't want to have to waste battery
304
:if you want to keep it.
305
:If you're out in the middle of nowhere
and you can't readily charge your phone,
306
:or the power's out and you can't charge it
at all, well, some vendors actually
307
:one so far have made a standalone
like this is the T-deck Pro.
308
:It's a it's a sexy like a BlackBerry.
309
:Yeah.
310
:It actually uses the same keyboard
which is interesting.
311
:I they found a stockpile of apparently
and before this came out actually
312
:and not to try to say they
313
:they didn't like the idea for me
it was in progress already.
314
:This is, you know, convergent evolution.
315
:I came out with my own standalone devices
that have integrated keyboards.
316
:This is actually an empty case version,
317
:and I have this weekend,
I'm actually going to come out
318
:with my clamshell waterproof
little standalone device as well,
319
:which has a nice big screen and,
you know, allows you to not have to
320
:rely on the phone.
321
:It does provide a somewhat
322
:limited interface,
like you can't put maps on this screen,
323
:but you have everything else as a compass,
all these things,
324
:and this is designed by me,
and there are other people
325
:in the community as well
that have designed
326
:usually things for their own use cases,
and then they post them to the public
327
:and people that see that and say, well,
I could use that too.
328
:And they either print it or buy it
or come up with something on their own.
329
:And the nice thing is there
there are little cottage
330
:industries and businesses
like mine that have grown around this.
331
:Some very skilled, technical
like electrical engineer types
332
:have come up with custom power
modules, custom circuit boards,
333
:even complete radios
that they don't have to purchase.
334
:They make purchase of components
and make their own
335
:because they needed
some special component.
336
:So there are a lot of
they're having a lot of great business
337
:opportunities
just in the open source public community.
338
:And from a services standpoint,
well, I'll defer to Jonathan,
339
:but like kind of the sky's the limit there
because any company that has a very
340
:specific case, they want use case,
they want a tailored solution for
341
:that is something that, you know, we're
aiming at and not to displace LoRaWAN.
342
:But sometimes you don't need all that
LoRaWAN has to offer,
343
:especially at the price and scale.
344
:The LoRaWAN
kind of assumes that you're going
345
:to need to use in their products
or are built around that scalability.
346
:From a very large industrial standpoint,
347
:this is perhaps a small to medium sized
business.
348
:Largest could use it to.
349
:But the idea is to have it to scale it
more efficiently
350
:then what
only lower rank on offer currently.
351
:So Jonathan,
if you could jump on that as well.
352
:Yeah.
353
:So two things I'll tag on to that one
right now kind of our bread
354
:and butter business is working
with the existing vendors.
355
:We sort of went to all of them
356
:and said it would be great
if you helped us make payroll, and we help
357
:you have official Meshtastic stuff
that you know, has supported firmware.
358
:And, you know,
we can give you feedback on design.
359
:And so one of the one of the neat
examples of
360
:that is actually the seed tRAKer card.
361
:This thing is amazing.
362
:It's waterproof.
363
:It's got great firmware support.
364
:It's got the latest Semtech radio in it.
365
:And we were able to give them
some feedback on that.
366
:And so, you know, a little part
367
:of what that device is,
is from the Meshtastic guys.
368
:And so there is that.
369
:And like I said,
that's kind of where we're at now.
370
:But we're also we're in this weird
transition phase where we've had people
371
:start reaching out to us and say, hey,
we want to use Meshtastic
372
:for this weird use case
that you guys never thought of before.
373
:Can you help us do that?
374
:And the answer is yes.
We would love to help you do that.
375
:You know, whether that is just telling you
376
:what we think about your idea, you know,
your general consulting sort of thing.
377
:Or here's how you integrate this in a way
that makes sense with your systems.
378
:Here's how you integrate this with a way
that respects the GPLv3 that the project
379
:has already under all kinds of stuff
like that, and that, you know, for
380
:like big places that really wanted,
kind of a turnkey solution.
381
:We have those existing relationships
with vendors and we've got
382
:we've got one project
that's sort of in process
383
:where we're doing this, and it's like,
this is the solution you want.
384
:We know these guys that have this fab,
let's make the exact piece
385
:of hardware for what you're wanting to do.
386
:And so kind of putting those two together,
387
:that's that's a service
that we can help with as well
388
:because we've worked
with these vendors for,
389
:you know, in some cases
since the beginning of the project
390
:and so kind of have an idea of the,
the pitfalls,
391
:but also the way to really get stuff
done flipping.
392
:So it's in the name Meshtastic Solutions.
393
:Yeah. People should go find you.
Look it up.
394
:I'll put a link down in the description.
Fellas, thanks a ton for coming on.
395
:I know you're super busy
with running a business.
396
:I appreciate you making the time
to talk to us. Appreciate it.
397
:Thanks for having us.
Thank you. Glad to have you.
398
:That's it for this episode
of The Business of LoRaWAN.
399
:I built this for you.
400
:So whether you're a business owner,
a LoRaWAN professional or a hobbyist,
401
:the intent is to give you great floor win
information.
402
:Of course,
the best information doesn't come from me.
403
:It comes from the conversations
404
:we have with the people building
and deploying this tech in the real world.
405
:And that's where you come in.
406
:LoRaWAN is a global
patchwork of talent and ideas.
407
:And ironically,
for a globally connected network,
408
:most of the brilliant folks
working on it are connected yet.
409
:Help me change that.
410
:Introduce me
411
:to someone awesome in your network,
someone doing meaningful work in Lauren.
412
:Or just shoot me a name.
413
:I'll take it from there
414
:and get them on the show
so we can share their work with the world.
415
:You can always find me at MetSci.show
416
:That's M-E-T-S-C-I dot
417
:S-H-O-W, metsci.show.
418
:If you want to support the show
in other ways, you can subscribe,
419
:leave a review,
share it with your corner of the world.
420
:All those are super helpful.
421
:If you'd like to support financially,
422
:you can go to support.metsci.show
One time and recurring options.
423
:We're also open to sponsors.
424
:If your company serves
the LoRaWAN community
425
:and you want to reach this dedicated
audience, let's talk.
426
:If you want to try it for yourself,
create a MeteoScientific account
427
:at console.meteoscientific.com
and get your first 400 DC for free,
428
:which is enough to run a device
sending hourly for about a year.
429
:This show is supported
430
:by a grant from the Helium Foundation
and produced by Gristle King, Inc..
431
:I'm Nik Hawks.
I'll see you in the next show.