77 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
77 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
# DongLoRa
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**/ˈdɒŋ.ɡəl.ɔːr.ə/** — a portmanteau of **dongle** and **LoRa**.
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Turn any LoRa board into a USB radio peripheral. Flash the firmware, plug it in, and you have a full LoRa workbench — transmitting, receiving, and building applications in minutes, not days.
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DongLoRa is an ecosystem: firmware that turns cheap LoRa boards into dumb USB radios, client libraries that make talking to them trivial, a multiplexer that lets you run multiple applications on one dongle simultaneously, and real applications built on top of all of it.
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## Get Started in 3 Steps
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```
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1. Flash firmware just flash heltec_v4
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2. Plug in the board (USB, that's it)
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3. Receive packets just rx
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```
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No drivers to install. No configuration files. No SDK to learn. The client library auto-detects your dongle and you're on the air.
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## How It Works
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The firmware is a dumb pipe — it has zero opinions about what you do with your radio. All the intelligence lives on the host. This means any language that can open a serial port can speak LoRa.
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```
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Your app ──► client library ──► USB ──► firmware ──► LoRa radio ──► the air
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Your app ──► client library ──┐
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Your app ──► client library ──┤
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... ├──► mux ──► USB ──► firmware ──► LoRa radio
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Your app ──► client library ──┤
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Your app ──► client library ──┘
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```
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The multiplexer lets you run a mesh bot, a packet sniffer, and a bridge all on the same radio at the same time.
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## What Can You Build?
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- **Mesh network tools** — run Meshtastic, MeshCore, or your own mesh protocol from a laptop, server, or Raspberry Pi
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- **LoRa packet analysis** — sniff, decode, and log every packet on a frequency
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- **Long-range bridges** — relay LoRa traffic across the internet, connecting distant networks
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- **Automated monitoring** — watch repeater telemetry, track fleet status, alert on events
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- **AI-powered mesh bots** — autonomous chatbots that live on mesh networks
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- **RF site surveys** — sweep frequencies and map signal strength from your desk
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- **Rapid prototyping** — test LoRa ideas in Python without touching embedded code
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- **Multi-radio coordination** — run multiple dongles for frequency hopping, diversity reception, or parallel monitoring
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- **Education and research** — teach LoRa concepts with immediate, tangible feedback
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- **Field deployments** — plug a dongle into a Raspberry Pi and you have a headless LoRa gateway
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## The Ecosystem
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| Repo | What it does | Language |
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|------|-------------|----------|
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| [firmware](https://github.com/donglora/firmware) | Embedded firmware — turns LoRa boards into USB radio peripherals | Rust |
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| [client-rs](https://github.com/donglora/client-rs) | Rust client library (`donglora-client` on crates.io) | Rust |
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| [client-py](https://github.com/donglora/client-py) | Python client library (`donglora-python` on PyPI) | Python |
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| [mux-rs](https://github.com/donglora/mux-rs) | USB multiplexer — share one dongle across multiple apps | Rust |
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| [mux-py](https://github.com/donglora/mux-py) | USB multiplexer (Python implementation) | Python |
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| [bridge](https://github.com/donglora/bridge) | P2P LoRa bridge — relay packets across the internet via encrypted gossip | Rust |
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| [examples](https://github.com/donglora/examples) | Ready-to-run demo scripts — receive, transmit, ping-pong, bridge | Python |
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| [ai-bot](https://github.com/donglora/ai-bot) | MeshCore AI chatbot (default mesh name: "Orac") | Python |
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## Supported Boards
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Any board with an SX1262 radio and USB. Currently:
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| Board | MCU | Display |
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|-------|-----|---------|
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| Heltec V3 | ESP32-S3 | SSD1306 OLED |
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| Heltec V4 | ESP32-S3 | SSD1315 OLED |
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| RAK WisBlock 4631 | nRF52840 | SSD1306 OLED (optional) |
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| Wio Tracker L1 | nRF52840 | SH1106 OLED |
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Adding a new board is one Rust file. The firmware architecture is designed so the list keeps growing.
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## License
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[MIT](https://github.com/donglora/firmware/blob/main/LICENSE)
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