Does anyone here have experience with LORA Radio for flight computers or the Meshtastic system?

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BremoSupremo

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I recently purchased a device called a LILYGO T-Beam, which is a supposedly long range LORA communicator usually used for hikers outside cell networks to broadcast back their GPS location when they have no signal. It is based on the ESP32 architecture and is theoretically programmable to send data inputs over LORA back to another T-Beam which can connect to a phone/computer. I'm just asking around to see if anyone is knowledgeable about whether it would be possible to create a radio linked flight computer with this system. As ideally I would want to have a system that broadcasts the current altitude, GPS cords, and events back to my phone, and I believe this thing can do that if I program it right, I just want some other peoples thoughts or recommendations.

Here is the link to where I bought it:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256802901824606.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.21ef1802y6rTV4
(I bought the 915 mhz version as you don't need a HAM license to operate on that frequency in the US.)
 
That's part of the fun with working with new hardware... you get to figure out how it works. Or, you can wait until it's not quite so new anymore... and launch off of what other people have done.
 
Seems to work pretty much like most of the 900Mhz GPS trackers available, like the MissileWorks T3. The physical layout with the antenna out the side of the board might make installation in a rocket a little more difficult.

Looks like a fun project.
 
IMG_20220528_124648_737.jpg
They work pretty well I use them as a replacement for 3DR modules. I have done some board to use the smt version as well as the normal one.
IMG_20220527_172100_747.jpg
The buffer seams to be smaller than the 3DR module
 
Working on GPS tracker and possibly telemetry downlink in future, the GPS+LoRa+Esp32 are amazing modules. You can easily use the esp32 to read altimeter and accelerometer module and then trigger MOSFETs for events. I have already did an altimeter but for my first dual deploy I will employ an egg timer sided by a LoRa/GPS module to attempt to track down the position.

TTGO module
 
For now I aim to track from ground and have a series of gps coordinate to use then an app to have a better idea of where it could have landed, if still receiving even knowing the position on map. Once this is achieved I will start to work on the flight computer as a whole. Thanks so much for these sources!
 
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