Build an Encrypted Off-Grid Mesh Texting Device
It may seem that everyone you know is only a text, click, or phone call away…but that can change in the blink of an eye. This is why you should have a way to securely communicate that doesn’t rely on services or infrastructure.
You want that lets you communicate when everything else is failing.
An off-grid texting device should work under all types of conditions, including:
You are out of range of cell towers
You have no WiFi
Internet or cell service is down
Power is down
A complete communication blackout
Grid down
Encrypted
Proven voice solutions such as GMRS and HAM radios are excellent for fast and reliable communication with those around you under any conditions. However, they are not encrypted and anyone nearby can listen.
You may not want anyone else to hear or read your conversation, especially under dangerous circumstances. This is why encryption is vital. You should not have to understand or set up encryption. It should just work.
Digital signatures are also critical, because they prevent an impersonator / middleman from sending you fake messages or “replaying” old messages. Again, this should happen automatically and you should not have to set this up.
Asynchronous
What if someone contacts you while you’re asleep or while your battery is dead? What if you’re too busy dealing with something while someone needs to send you some vital information?
Voice communication is synchronous, meaning two (or more) people have to be speaking and listening at the same moment in time. That is good for many things, but you also need a way to get a message to another person, when they’re not listening yet or when their device is turned off.
With asynchronous communication, your message will eventually make its way to the other person, even if they’re not paying attention or don’t have their device nearby when you send it.
Easy to Use
It’s easy to get a system or technology that’s too hard to use, and you never spend the time needed to learn or set it up. In my opinion, you should not have to take the time to learn the technology, it should just be intuitive and work well, right out of the box.
ChatterBox Off-Grid Secure Text Communication
I created the ChatterBox firmware and designed some DIY mesh communication devices for precisely these reasons. People should be able to text securely, even during a total grid outage, with others nearby.
ChatterBox is Encrypted
Messages, locations, and other sensitive data are encrypted on your device
All of the above are also encrypted during transmission
Messages, locations, and “pings” are all digitally signed, so they can’t be faked
Asymmetric encryption is used between individuals, and ensures even other trusted devices assisting in a mesh delivery cannot decrypt/read the message. Only the final recipient can read the message.
Unpredictable frequency hopping is used, to prevent jamming and also to avoid interference between groups & devices.
ChatterBox is Asynchronous (Like Texting)
At any time, just find the person you want to contact, type a message and send it. If the other person is within LoRa range, the message will be delivered instantly, and you’ll get a delivery confirmation within seconds.
If the other person is out of range or their device is off, ChatterBox will plan a path to get your message delivered (using mesh if necessary), and it will continue working to push the message out in the background until it’s delivered or expired.
Choose the device, send your message, and see the check mark when it’s delivered.
ChatterBox is Easy to Use for Secure Off-Grid Text Communication
I designed the ChatterBox firmware to work very similar to the texting you’re already used to. It’s quite likely many people will buy or build these, use them a few times, and then forget about them until the scenario they are made for happens. At that point (hopefully far in the future, or never), you may have completely forgotten how these things work.
No problem, you should just be able to turn them on and immediately know how to use them, just because they’re so easy to use.
Home Screen
See recent messages, send a message, see your signal strength/connectivity, access your GPS location info.
Neighbors Screen
Get a live view of anyone who’s currently in range, including nearby nodes/sensors.
Touch to view the person/node’s info, send them a message, or use GPS to see how to get to them.
Other Devices
For any device in your cluster, see who they are, last location, and the last time they were within LoRa range.
If the other device is a sensor or can receive commands, you can remotely send commands or retrieve information from the device.
Mark a device as critical if it’s a frequent contact.
Device Location(s)
See the current or last-known location for any device in your cluster.
Also see the time/date of the location info, last known distance/heading, and where they are relative to you.
You may monitor several devices at once on this screen.
ChatterBox Clusters
A cluster is a private off-grid mesh communication group, where a “root” (admin) device trusts up to 90 devices and adds them to its “cluster”. Those trusted devices automatically trust one another and work cooperatively as a decentralized and secure off-grid communication mesh network.
The benefit of meshing is that messages can travel as many hops as necessary to reach devices that may be powered off or may be far beyond your reach.
Build Your Own Encrypted Off-Grid Mesh Devices!
If you have a 3D printer and some basic knowledge of electricity (and soldering tools), it’s not very difficult to build these.
The firmware is free to download. I have also published many build plans for all sorts of DIY mesh communicators and nodes.
The DIY guides include a parts list, most of which can be acquired from Amazon.
Here you can see a video of me assembling an encrypted off-grid communicator with an integrated thermal camera. You don’t have to build one with a thermal cam, but here’s a demo of one anyway.
Here you can see a video of me assembling an encrypted off-grid communicator with an integrated thermal camera. You don’t have to build one with a thermal cam, but here’s a demo of one anyway.
I Can Build Your Off-Grid Cluster
I can completely assemble and configure ready-to-use cluster for you. You can choose how many devices you want, what their names should be, what capabilities you want, and let me build it for you.
Your fully configured cluster will be secure, encrypted, and easy to use, just as stated above. You really don’t have to understand how it works.
