Episode 22

The Value Add Business - Rokland with Jason Opdyke

Jason Opdyke, CEO of Rokland Technologies, shares his insights on the evolving landscape of LoRaWAN and the impact of emerging technologies like Meshtastic. Opdyke highlights how Meshtastic, an off-grid, decentralized, point-to-point mesh network technology, is revolutionizing communication by integrating seamlessly with LoRaWAN networks.

Key discussion points include:

  • How Meshtastic enables secure and reliable communication without traditional cellular or Wi-Fi networks, attracting interest from both hobbyists and commercial businesses.
  • The increasing role of Meshtastic Solutions, a dedicated team helping businesses implement effective and integrated communication solutions.
  • Real-world business applications, such as an emergency response unit integrating Meshtastic with existing LoRaWAN infrastructure to enhance operational readiness and safety.

Opdyke also explores broader LoRaWAN business opportunities:

  • The significant impact of WisBlock technology from RAK Wireless, standardizing and simplifying integration across various operating systems for use cases in agriculture and environmental monitoring.
  • Innovative elder care applications, including comprehensive monitoring of patient falls, body temperature, and movement patterns, showcasing how LoRaWAN technology provides actionable data for resource optimization.
  • Practical insights into how businesses leverage LoRaWAN data analytics to improve resource allocation and enhance operational efficiency, demonstrating tangible benefits across multiple industries.

Opdyke’s perspective emphasizes practical business solutions and actionable insights, clearly illustrating the real-world value and transformative potential of LoRaWAN and Meshtastic technologies.

Connect with Jason Opdyke:

Transcript
Speaker:

Today's guest on MeteoScientific's

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The Business of Lauren is Jason Opdyke,

CEO of Rokland Technologies.

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Jason has spent over two decades deeply

embedded in the wireless networking space,

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consistently

identifying innovative solutions

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that bridge practical business

needs with cutting edge technology.

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Under his leadership, Rokland has evolved

from an early e-commerce distributor

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of networking equipment into a major

player in the LoRaWAN and IoT ecosystem,

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providing essential hardware and support

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for both enterprise solutions

and hobbyist projects.

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Jason's recent work highlights

the practical integration of Meshtastic,

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a decentralized mesh network that operates

independently of traditional internet

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and cellular infrastructure.

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He shares insights on how businesses,

from emergency response units to eldercare

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facilities, are leveraging this technology

to improve efficiency, safety

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and operational insight.

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Jason emphasizes

the critical role of LoRaWAN in

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delivering real time

data collection and analytics, enabling

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smarter resource allocation and decision

making across various industries.

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This episode is sponsored by the Helium

Foundation's IoT Working Group.

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Helium offers global LoRaWAN coverage

and is used by everyone

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from hobbyists to businesses

deploying countrywide networks.

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If you'd like to see if Helium

coverage exists for you

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check out the links in the show notes

to get started using Helium today.

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You can sign up for a console account

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with MeteoScientific

at console.MeteoScientific.com

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Now let's dig into the conversation

with Jason Opdyke.

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Jason, thanks for coming on, man.

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Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

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I'm excited to be on the show

for all of you for a long time.

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Yeah, I'm psyched to have you on here.

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I guess we should start this thing

with the kind of

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current hotness in LoRaWAN,

which is this Meshtastic thing.

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What are you seeing on the Rokland side?

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What's going on with that?

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Absolutely.

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So Meshtastic is growing for those

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in your audience

that aren't familiar with it.

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It's just basically an off grid,

decentralized, point to point messaging

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system.

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You don't need any cellular service,

any Wi-Fi, anything like that.

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You can transmit point to point,

but it's also mesh technology.

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So it's going to hop around.

You go very far.

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I think the records like 300km

or something like that

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from a point to point location.

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So we're seeing a lot of interest,

not only from hobbyists,

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but businesses as well,

that are interested in

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integrating this type of communications

technology into their businesses

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and into the things they do on their daily

workflow. Got it.

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And of course,

this is separate from a LoRaWAN.

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This is kind of your own little private

little mesh network.

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I think we're seeing some stuff

where you can pop out of a LoRaWAN

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and onto a mesh, but I haven't

I haven't paid a ton of attention to that.

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I have seen a ton of folks who are really

interested in this Meshtastic idea.

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So it's built

right on top of LoRaWAN technology,

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so it integrates with LoRaWAN gateways

with different types of sensors.

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In fact, our brand partner,

RAK wireless, has been leading the way

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integrating sensor technology

into Meshtastic nodes.

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So not only can you send communication,

but you can get weather, temperature data,

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soil data, all sorts of data

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over the Meshtastic network

where you previously

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were limited to having to be in range

of the LoRaWAN gateway.

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You know, you and me

met back there in the Helium days,

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and you set up a lot of the Helium

gateways, and they would provide coverage

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over a certain distance.

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But with Meshtastic,

that data can keep hopping.

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So you can really get that data

off the sensors.

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The more we have sensors much further away

than you can, you know, with traditional

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in architecture, okay.

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And you're seeing a lot of businesses

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that are buying the hardware from you

and then probably asking you for help.

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Walk me through what it looks like

on the business side for these businesses

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that are building stuff around LoRaWAN.

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So we're kind of in the almost like

in the gold rush days there.

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So the technology Meshtastic

has been around for some years now.

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And while

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I never like to use the term perfected

because it certainly isn't perfected,

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it's just perfected

as any technology can be in terms

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of doing the basics

that it's supposed to do.

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Integration with business is something

that's a little bit newer and,

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this year, Meshtastic, actually form

Meshtastic Solutions,

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a dedicated team that will actually work

with business integrations.

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And that's what we're seeing now.

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We've got a, emergency response department

in one state

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that's looking at outfitting LoRaWAN

architecture.

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They already have in the state

with emergency radios.

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So they could just basically put radios

at each communication hub.

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They already have the challenges.

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They have no idea how to integrate that.

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And that's where our company

and Meshtastic Solutions can come in.

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It's working with them

on the actual integration.

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How to use it more or less.

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Most people are pairing phones

with a radio,

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so you would use like a typical Android

or iPhone to send and receive messages,

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but you don't have to.

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You can program a Raspberry Pi,

a computer to use Meshtastic.

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So there's a lot of options for businesses

beyond just traditional

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cell phone usage.

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Got it.

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Okay,

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so I had thought

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you guys were just selling hardware,

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but it sounds like people come to you

to buy the hardware

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and then you say, hey,

we can help you with this

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if you don't know how to use the thing

fully.

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Is that right?

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That's right. Absolutely.

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So we're providing support as well.

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And we've got a software team too,

that's looking at different ways

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to do integration.

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And a software team

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over at Meshtastic is always coming out

with new features as well.

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Yeah, I'm always

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seeing Carl Rowan at the wireless saying

like, hey, check out this, this new thing.

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So those guys are hustling on that side.

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Okay,

so what are some of the other businesses

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that you're seeing

that are buying from you

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that are doing stuff

that maybe you hadn't seen before?

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You think, oh, that's pretty innovative

or that looks like a really good business.

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Yeah.

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So where we're seeing LoRaWAN right

now, there's number of different areas.

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Agriculture of course, is more common.

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I think, you know, the agriculture sensors

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have been around for a while, but

it's kind of been a hodgepodge of hardware

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that doesn't really work well,

no specific brand that's focusing on it.

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So brands are kind of putting out parts

that aren't standardized.

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RAK’s really fixed that

with their WisBlock technology,

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and it's proprietary technology

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that communicates

across their operating systems very well.

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So we're starting

to see a proliferation of usage in, in,

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environmental monitoring,

agriculture, moisture soil universities

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that are collecting data on crops

and things of that nature.

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And then we're seeing it in

some unusual places as well, like elder

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care, you know,

we think about nursing homes and people,

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and regrettably, we probably think like,

oh, it was just people

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sitting there and they go get their pills

and they have their visitors,

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but they're doing some really innovative

stuff with LoRaWAN and elder care devices

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that can track patients, that can monitor

things like falls, body temperature,

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all sorts of things that they can do

just from one dedicated device

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and one dedicated communication stream,

so that businesses aren't trying to track

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a separate GPS

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and a separate fall detection thing

and a separate smartwatch

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and try to do all these things.

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They can do it all from one

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LoRaWAN device, and we're starting to see

that really pick up as well.

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Across the country.

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Oh, interesting. Me,

my mom's getting in her 80s.

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She's still pretty active

and resisting all attempts to

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to get her anywhere

where someone else is around her.

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She's super independent,

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but I can see at some point

it'd be nice to be able to put a little,

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have her put a necklace or a bracelet

or whatever on and say like, hey,

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I just want to know if you fall.

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And obviously with LoRaWAN,

the coverage is almost everywhere,

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especially with with Helium.

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Is that the kind of thing

that we're talking about,

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or is this some other device

that I'm I'm not thinking of?

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No, something like that.

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But I mean, you're a data guy

and it can go so much beyond like,

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you think, okay, well,

I'll wear a smartwatch

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to track a fall, but, you know,

there's a company really want to integrate

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different smartwatch for every person.

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But what they can do, aside

from just seeing the patient data

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or getting a fall notification, is

they can get that data in a broad format

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right in front of them

so they can start to monitor.

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Are we having an excessive amount of falls

in a certain facility?

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For example,

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are we having an excessive amount

of patients that aren't moving or aren't

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doing this or, you know, their temperature

so they can get all sorts of data

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about the patients

in one centralized location

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just by simply having a few LoRaWAN

gateways deployed at a facility

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and having some type of tracking device

or badge for each patient.

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So that's that's where I see

the real innovation in terms of the data

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that you can pull out of the technology,

not just the technology itself,

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and being able to track or do this,

which that technology has been around.

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But to be able to get it up on the cloud

and be able to analyze it

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is something that's new and growing.

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Got it.

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And I'm I'm imagining

just from a business perspective, these

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and this sounds horrible,

but the elder care homes are like, hey,

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I don't actually want people to know that

I'm not moving my patients all the time

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or that we have higher falls

than other homes.

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How are you going in and selling to

those folks are how you

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how are you seeing that sold

as far as value to them,

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where they're like,

oh yeah, this would be great.

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Sure. Good question.

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So we don't actually get the data

ourselves.

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This is companies

that are taking the hardware

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and they're building

the solution themselves.

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So like for example, we don't necessarily

see the data on our clients.

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And my thinking is that if you're running

any type of facility,

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you'd at least want to be aware

of what's going on,

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even if it's not something

that you want to advertise.

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So maybe you don't want to advertise it,

but it might identify problems

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that you want to fix.

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I tend to believe that people,

for the most part, are good in

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that if you're a management in a facility

like that,

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you would probably want to trend over time

toward fixing a problem.

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So like lack of motion, too many falls,

maybe you couldn't pay

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attention to it right away.

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But I think the goal of those types of

companies is to be able to automate that

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and then see where you need

more resources.

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And like I can tell you

from being in business

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for 25 years, one of the key challenges

that any business

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has is making sure that the resources

are deployed the right way.

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I could have three employees over here

designed.

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They're basically there to do a task

and maybe demand slows.

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And so those three employees are doing

tasks that only one employee needs to do.

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And then over here

I've got increased activity,

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but I only have one employee trying to do

the work that three employees have to do.

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So if I'm not paying attention to my data,

I'm sitting there

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paying for employees,

and I've got inefficiency on both sides.

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Whereas if I'm looking at the LoRaWAN data

and I can see where the inefficiency

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is, I say, oh, all I got to do is move

two employees from here, over here.

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And now I've fixed my problem.

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And I think that's really

what these businesses are trying to do,

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is identify inefficiencies

throughout the process

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and use technology

to correct those inefficiencies.

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Okay.

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So in the same way

that we're seeing a lot of sensor

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data feed into AI models

and are kind of decision makers,

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you're saying like, hey,

the same thing happens for people as we're

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just getting more and more of a sensory

input into our environment

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beyond what we can see and smell and taste

and touch in our immediate environment.

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And that's allowing us to make better

decisions across businesses.

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Exactly.

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LoRaWAN allows us to get more data

quicker, more efficiently

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from West technology in terms

of the number of devices you need,

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and it allows for better data analysis

at the end of the day as well.

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Okay.

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And then you're seeing businesses

come to you and say, hey, I want to buy

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whatever it is, 20 or 30 or 50 or 1,

whatever the number of devices is.

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What are some of the challenges

that you see those businesses have that

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you see as opportunities for what

what Rokland is doing, where you're like,

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hey man, I hadn't thought about this,

but this is something

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that we could really help you out with.

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Yes.

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Where our company comes into play

is we help a lot on the fulfillment side.

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So companies like a university of,

for example, they might need a few hundred

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different LoRaWAN gateways,

but they don't need them all now.

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So we can help out on the logistics side.

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They also need periods of time

to evaluate and ask questions.

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You know, you're talking to people

that haven't worked with LoRaWAN

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and technology,

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and the marketing is always ahead

of the product, right, in every industry.

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So the marketing for LoRaWAN is like,

oh, super easy, super simple.

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All you got to do is put up a sensor

and your data will connect.

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And then when you sit down

and try to pair devices,

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The Things Network,

you learn that or Chirpstack you learn

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that is it's not quite as simple,

at least for a layperson as you let on.

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So that's where our team will come in,

as well as kind of bridge that gap instead

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of just throwing you cold

hardware say, well, there's your gateway.

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You know, I don't know how to, you know,

hook up the sensors.

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And yes, we don't outsource

any of our support here.

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All of our technical support and sales

staff are based

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right here in our Gainesville,

Florida location.

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So we're able to, use our knowledge

and experience and our resources.

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I've actually met

with the CEO of RAK in Thailand last week.

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And, you know, he's a great guy

and he has a great outfit at RAK Wireless.

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And you, of course, talk to Carl Rowan.

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And so we also have the full weight

of RAK’s resources available too.

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So instead of a company

having to reach out and cold call

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RAK who's based in China and kind of,

you know, ask questions

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and wait for an email response 24 hours

later, we learned so much from the folks

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in RAK that we can pass that

on to the businesses as well.

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That's pretty rad.

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And I guess the elephant in the room,

th,:

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So there's still a fair amount

of uncertainty around tariffs and China

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and U.S. relations.

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Is there something there

where you're like, hey,

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we really have to be careful here, or what

are your thoughts on kind of moving

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forward, at least into the kind

of summer of:

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So glad you brought that up, Nik

because what the media is doing right now

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with the tariff coverage is so surface.

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It's just kind of talking numbers,

and it's not adding all the numbers up

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and it's not looking at every dynamic

of the manufacturing process.

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And look, we're here at Rokland,

we're an America First company.

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We believe in American jobs.

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We employ

only Americans here at our office.

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And the ability

to bring these items in there

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just simply aren't factories here

that are making these LoRaWAN gateways.

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And the news isn't telling people

that you're looking at around

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$50 million up just to build a factory.

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And you can't just build that factory

to make LoRaWAN gateways,

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to be able to cover the cost,

you've got to scale out.

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I mean, most factories in China,

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Thailand, Taiwan, they're making products

for probably ten, 20, maybe

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even 50 different brands like Foxconn

makes, you know, products for.

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So to be able to scale up

and build a factory and bring these jobs

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back to America right now really isn't in

the cards from any realistic standpoint.

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A larger company like Apple or TSMC,

they might be able to invest

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a little bit more resources.

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But for companies like ours, you know,

we do rely on manufacturing outside

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the United States.

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But that's not where everything is done.

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We do a lot of product design here,

like on the Meshtastic side,

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a lot of the products that you guys see

come out from Rokland Technologies.

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They're designed here.

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They're built with parts

from our brand partner, RAK wireless.

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We'll do the 3D printed casing here,

the injection molding here.

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There's a lot that we do.

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All the support, all the sales.

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So tariffs there's a debate about tariffs.

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Of course your audience is probably on

either side or the other.

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And to be honest with you

there's some truth to both sides right.

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There is some benefit of having tariffs.

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There's also some obstacles

in having them.

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So we'll see what comes down the road

with the different countries.

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But right now,

since we do a lot of the assembly

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and we do some of the casings

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and some of the stuff in-house,

we're able to help keep those costs down.

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We're also able

to bring in a lot of extra inventory

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so that, at least for our clients

that may be exposed to tariffs

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in the longer term,

like on the gateway side,

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they can still place orders now

and have a consistent output for the rest

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of the year while we kind of wait to see,

you know, where the dust settles.

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What kind of things are you hearing

And I know you were in Spain

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last week and you talked

to a lot of people in the tech space.

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What what are you, you know, I like to.

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I like to talk, but I like to listen to.

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What are you hearing on the tariff side?

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And what are the concerns

that you're hearing people express?

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I think the general concerns

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are just around uncertainty

and what's going to happen.

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I think it's good

that, you know, you've seen this.

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The crazy demand that can happen

back in the Helium days in:

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Yeah. And you're preparing for it.

So I think that's super, super smart.

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I mean generally

I just think people are uncertain

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and trying to figure out what to do.

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We'll see how the whole thing shakes out.

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But last question here

as you look forward to the next,

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I don't know, six months or year,

however far ahead you plan out,

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are there any new products

that you're super excited that are

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that are coming out

that you can tell us about?

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Absolutely.

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So what we're doing in

the solar space is extremely cool.

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And with battery technology as well.

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It's really cool seeing how I mean,

and you know what?

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We're setting up Helium.

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I know you did some solar panel

installations, but it was kind of rare.

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I was a little bit costly,

a little bit cumbersome,

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and the battery technology

wasn't really there.

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We're seeing both on the LoRaWAN gateway

side and Meshtastic,

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a real advancement in the battery

availability, the high capacity battery

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availability, solar panels, the ability

to just set up gateway stations,

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Meshtastic repeater stations in perpetuity

that'll just run all the time.

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But we're doing some really innovative

stuff there to bring that cost down.

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And also looking more at cold storage,

battery technology, because that's

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been something that just hasn't

caught up to the times yet.

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We've got customers up

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north that, hey, everything's great,

my gateway runs great all summer and fall.

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My Meshtastic station does as well.

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And then come winter, all of a sudden

the battery can't take to charge

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and things of that nature.

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And of course, there are solutions for it,

but they're few and far between,

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and they're costly.

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So we've got some exciting things

coming down the pipeline there.

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And we're also on the Meshtastic side.

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Devices

are just getting more and more modern.

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You know, when the technology started,

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it's a lot of really small screen,

kind of bulky 3D prints.

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It's just that, that coolness

factor of having something.

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But our design teams,

as well as the design teams at RAK

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and our other brand partners

have really focused

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on, you know, what other devices

can we integrate Meshtastic into?

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And anything from cell phone cases

to tablets to all sorts of stuff.

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That's the goal

because it's like with Helium.

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Nik if we had all the base stations around

us, the network

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would have got adopted by users for data

throughput a lot quicker.

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And that's the challenge

you have with Meshtastic.

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If somebody wants to buy one

but they don't know anybody using it,

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you know what's the point?

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So the more available

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we can make it in the masses,

the more the networks going to grow.

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Yeah. That's it.

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Exciting to see it.

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And funnily enough, Meshtastic is

what got me into Helium.

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It was a really new project

back in August of:

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:

so it's kind of cool to see it

come around and get a ton of action.

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Jason, thanks tons for coming on.

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I know you're super busy as a founder

running a business.

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I appreciate you taking the time to share

what you got going on at Rokland.

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Thus, hey,

thanks a lot Nik Always a pleasure, man.

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That's it for

this episode of The Business of LoRaWAN.

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I built this for you.

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So whether you're a business owner,

a LoRaWAN professional or a hobbyist,

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the intent is to give you great LoRaWAN

information.

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Of course,

the best information doesn't come from me.

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:

It comes from the conversations

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we have with the people building

and deploying this tech in the real world.

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And that's where you come in.

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:

LoRaWAN is a global

patchwork of talent and ideas.

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And ironically,

for a globally connected network,

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:

most of the brilliant folks working on it

aren't connected yet.

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:

Help me change that.

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:

Introduce me

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:

to someone awesome in your network,

someone doing meaningful work in Lauren.

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:

Or just shoot me a name.

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:

I'll take it from there

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:

and get them on the show

so we can share their work with the world.

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:

You can always find me at metsci.show,

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:

that's M-E-T-S-C-I dot

402

:

S-H-O-W, metsci.show

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:

If you want to support the show

in other ways, you can subscribe,

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:

leave a review,

share it with your corner of the world.

405

:

All those are super helpful.

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:

If you'd like to support financially,

you can go to support.metsci.show

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:

for both one time and recurring options.

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:

We're also open to sponsors.

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:

If your company serves

the LoRaWAN community

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:

and you want to reach this dedicated

audience, let's talk.

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:

If you want to try out LoRaWAN

for yourself., create a MeteoScientific

412

:

account at console.meteoscientific.com

and get your first 400 DC for free,

413

:

which is enough to run a device

sending hourly for about a year.

414

:

This show is supported

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:

by a grant from the Helium Foundation

and produced by Gristle King, Inc..

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:

I'm Nik Hawks.

I'll see you in the next show.

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About the Podcast

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The Business of LoRaWAN
Learn From the Pros

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Nik Hawks

Incurably curious, to stormy nights and the wine-dark sea!