WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway

The WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway connects your Meshtastic devices to the Cloud, enabling communication with the Meshtastic or your own MQTT Broker. It supports sending sensor data, location information, and text messages.

This device features the WisBlock RAK11200 Core module with Meshtastic firmware, integrated Wi-Fi and BLE, and the RAK13300 LoRa module, all mounted on the RAK19007 Base Board.

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Figure 1: WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway

The device comes in a Unify 100x75x38 mm enclosure, offering a variety of mounting options.

NOTE

For more details about the mounting options of the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway, refer to the Unify Enclosure mounting accessories.

This guide covers the basics for the RAKwireless Meshtastic devices that are not covered by the Meshtastic documentation.

For detailed instructions how to configure the devices for the Meshtastic network, follow the Meshtastic Getting Started guide.

NOTE

To ensure you are running the latest version of the Meshtastic firmware, it is advised to download the latest Meshtastic firmware and upload it to your RAKwireless device to make it compatible with the Meshtastic network.

For Firmware 1.3 and 2.0 (from November 1, 2022), the WisBlock Base board is autodetected. There's a special firmware for the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway. Make sure to update the device with this specific Meshtastic firmware.

Meshtastic Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway with RAK11200: firmware-rak11200-w.x.yy.zzzzzzz.uf2

Prerequisite

Before going through each and every step on using WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway, make sure to prepare the necessary items listed below:

Hardware

WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway

Software

The WisBlock Core module of the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway comes pre-flashed with the Meshtastic firmware.

However, to connect the device to the Meshtastic network, you will have to configure it. The recommended way to configure the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway is using a mobile phone via a BLE connection with either of these configurations:

Alternatively, the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway has an USB connector inside. With the USB connection, you can use either of these configurations:

NOTE

Make sure that you have installed one of these applications, as they are required for the configuration of the Meshtastic network.

To access the connector, unscrew the mounting plate inside the enclosure and lift it until you gain access to the USB connector.

Product Configuration

Hardware Setup

The WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway comes fully assembled. It is also available in Unify Enclosure IP67 100x75x38 mm.

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Figure 1: WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway in the Unify Enclosure 100x75x38mm

Antennas

The WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway comes with a PCB BLE antenna and an external LoRa antenna. Make sure the antennas are plugged in properly before powering up the unit.

Software Setup

For Firmware 1.3 and 2.0 (from November 1, 2022), the WisBlock Base board is autodetected. Besides JSON output to the MQTT broker, there's a special firmware for the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway. Make sure to update the device with this specific Meshtastic firmware.

Meshtastic Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway with RAK11200: firmware-rak11200-w.x.yy.zzzzzzz.uf2

Flashing the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway Firmware:

The WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway comes pre-flashed with the Meshtastic firmware. If problems occur, update the Meshtastic firmware to the latest version.

Guide to flash ESP32 devices. (link goes to Meshtastic.org)

To set up the WisMesh Wi-Fi MQTT Gateway for the Meshtastic network, follow the configuration guide in the Meshtastic documentation.

Tutorial - Meshtastic MQTT Gateway Setup

Device Setup

The Meshtastic MQTT Gateway comes pre-flashed with Meshtastic firmware, but its device setup differs from other Meshtastic nodes.

To set up the device, connect the Meshtastic Gateway by selecting it on the Meshtastic app.

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Figure 1: WisMesh devices in the Meshtastic Mobile App

NOTE

Set all your devices to the same Region and Channel.
Since the Meshtastic Gateway does not have a GNSS location module, a fixed location can be set up if desired.

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Figure 1: Setup fixed location

Gateway Connections

Connect the gateway to the internet. In this case, the RAK11200 with its built-in Wi-Fi will be used.

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Figure 1: Wi-Fi setup

IMPORTANT

Below are the options for connecting the gateway through Wi-Fi:

For this setup, connect the device via BLE, then configure the Wi-Fi credentials.
Alternatively, configure the connection settings using the Meshtastic app, via USB, or through the Meshtastic Web GUI or command-line utility.

NOTE

Once the device has connected to the Wi-Fi network, the IP address will be shown in the device list.

Set up the connection to the MQTT broker.

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Figure 1: MQTT setup

NOTE

The MQTT broker used here is the free MQTT broker provided by Meshtastic. You can find the URL, address, username, and password in the Meshtastic documentation.
To make parsing of the data easier, enable the JSON output.
To avoid too much traffic, create a custom root topic. If the root topic already existed, it will be more difficult to filter out the devices later at your end.
If you prefer to see the devices on the public Meshtastic maps (e.g. MeshMap.net), enable Map reporting and set a Map reporting interval.

info

A more comprehensive guide for the Meshtastic Gateway can be found in the Meshtastic-Sensor-Network PoC. This includes setting up multiple sensor nodes, retrieving the sensor data from the MQTT broker, and visualizing the data in Grafana.