archy-messh/firmware/README.md

firmware (Phase 1)

Embedded firmware for the single-device 3-in-1: one Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3 (ESP32-S3 + one SX1262) time-multiplexing its single radio across the Meshtastic / MeshCore / Reticulum PHY configs. See ../docs/ARCHITECTURE.md §2-§3 for why Phase 1 is a time-multiplexed single radio (Option A).

Current increment: RTC scanner + acid display + Meshtastic decode

src/main.cpp rotates the single SX1262 through each network's PHY preset (Reticulum / meshTastic / meshCore = RTC), listens per dwell window, logs every raw packet, and decodes Meshtastic on-chip (AES-128-CTR via mbedtls + protobuf → text / node names). The 128×64 OLED shows an animated acid-house UI: a smiley (that periodically freaks out — spins, stripes, eyes + mouth open), a punk RTC header, three live network rows (packet counts + RX blips), and the last decoded event.

Device identity Reticutasticore / RTC is baked in (DEVICE_NAME) as the name this device will present on all three networks once the TX/participation layer lands — so a message addressed to it will be routable.

Validated on hardware (2026-07-01):

• radio inits clean, all three presets cycle, display renders.
• Meshtastic: live broadcast packets at −34 to −44 dBm; on-chip decode matches the offline reference (tools/meshtastic_decode.py, verified against real captures — decoded node "Arch Optiplex"/"ARCH").
• MeshCore: received real packets too — so the 0x12 sync-word guess is correct (was an open item).
• Reticulum: silent — placeholder PHY config + likely no RNode nodes near.

Still RX-only: no bridging or transmit yet.

Open items baked into the config table

• MeshCore sync word (src/main.cpp, CONFIGS[]) is a guess (0x12, RadioLib's private default). Confirm against MeshCore src/ — this is the same open item as ../docs/ARCHITECTURE.md §1/§5.
• Reticulum PHY has no protocol-mandated preset; it's operator-configured. The entry is a placeholder — set it to your actual RNS RNode interface config or that window hears nothing.
• Meshtastic frequency is set to the documented 869.525 MHz, but Meshtastic hashes the channel name to a slot within the region plan, so real deployments may sit on a different slot.

Build / flash / monitor

Requires PlatformIO (pip install platformio). Versions are pinned in platformio.ini (espressif32 7.0.1, RadioLib 7.7.1) — do not float them.

pio run                                          # compile
pio run -t upload --upload-port /dev/cu.usbserial-0001   # flash (adjust port)
pio device monitor -b 115200                     # watch the scan

Planned: message-received animation

When a text message arrives, play a short intro before showing it: the striped smiley spins upside-down / rotated, little lightning bolts flash, then a Meshtastic-style message modal slides in with the sender + text. (Spec'd, not yet built.)

Roadmap from here

1. RX decode per protocol — turn logged raw packets into {sender, text} (Meshtastic 16-byte header + AES-CTR; MeshCore framing; Reticulum via microReticulum). Start with Meshtastic since we already receive it.
2. On-device bridge/dedup — port the Phase 0 bridge_core relay+dedup logic to C++.
3. TX — re-originate a decoded message onto the other two networks within their dwell windows (queue between windows).
4. Revisit dwell timing / RAM budget with real per-protocol state (§3).