OK, the time has come for R2 to leave the safety of the lab and make some first steps out in the real world :-) I am looking for some testers who are willing to deploy repeaters in their area and give it all a bit of a shake.
R2 will rely much, much more on good repeaters than original Ripple. The mesh has always performed far better with even just one really well placed repeater up at high altitude, but R2 will hopefully set a slightly new precedent in that, for now, the various messaging devices are Not transport nodes. ie. they don't forward packets. Ideally, the transports nodes are geographically fixed, while the edge nodes can roam at will.
For this phase I am just targeting Heltec V3 boards (either with OLED, or the StickLite), for both the 'pager' and repeater firmwares. The pager firmware connects over BLE to two initial Android apps: R2 Messenger, and R2 Commander. (both are successor equivalents to classic Ripple versions). And, the one pager device can be used with both apps, and the device keeps separate profiles for each app. This will be the case for any future apps, ie. the one pager device can be multi-profile, ie. basically have a kind-of multiple-personality disorder. :-)
For now R2 Commander is just for configuring and monitoring repeaters. This will greatly expand over time, and catch up to classic Commander app (for sensors, 'post offices', etc). Here are a few screen grabs:
The absolute must, in my books, is the OTA update! This has been so useful and hope you all find it valuable. (I got so sick of going up ladders, climbing trees, etc!) With this, you remotely put the repeater into OTA mode, and it creates a WiFi SSID of 'R2-OTA' which you connect to with your laptop, and get a nice Web UI to upload new firmware .bin. So sweet :-) The firmware updates will be coming pretty regularly, especially in this nascent phase, so this is vital.
The R2 Pager
This little beauty is the new model R2 pager. Just has a Heltec StickLite V3, 650mAh lithium battery, buzzer, and 'wake'/alarm-off button. (and on/off switch, which you can't see). I'll be uploading the case STL's here for those who want to make one.
The Commercial Stuff
Just to be transparent, the overall model I have chosen for R2 is that I maintain proprietary firmwares and Android apps, and make quite a lot of it free, but require one-time Activation Codes for some features. I have already put an enormous amount of work into (hopefully) making these apps/firmwares the premium option, the easy-to-use, minimal-effort route for those who are time-poor, just want to get into it all as quickly as possible, or people who just want the best :-) And for those who really want to get elbows-deep into coding, soldering, etc. the door will be completely open to you too with the release of the RippleCore C++ library, and sample apps. I really hope to see 3rd party repeaters, chat apps, and other apps (yes, R2 is a general transport protocol, for anything, not just chat).
Competition is a good thing.
As long as there is respectful, good-will debate over the underlying protocol (I'm sure there will be debates, and pressure to change various aspects) and that overall interoperability is maintained, then that's a win for everyone.
For early beta testers, I will be giving away free R2 repeater firmware Activation Codes. I don't have any idea what the first-launch price will be, but the activation process is mandatory.
Wrap Up
Ok, that's it for now. I am really excited about the next phase, and what will be learned. I am sure problems will be encountered, but am also sure there will be solutions, and that rapid iterations will advance R2 very quickly.
Just message me here if you want to sign up for the trial, and give an estimate of how many repeaters and pagers you think you can setup.
regards,
Scott Powell.