_____ .__ ________ __ __
/ \ ____ _____| |__ \______ \ _____/ |_ ____ _____/ |_
/ \ / \_/ __ \ / ___/ | \ | | \_/ __ \ __\/ __ \_/ ___\ __\
/ Y \ ___/ \___ \| Y \ | ` \ ___/| | \ ___/\ \___| |
\____|__ /\___ >____ >___| / /_______ /\___ >__| \___ >\___ >__|
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/
Hardware-first toolkit for surveillance detection and FAA Remote-ID drone tracking, with mesh-relayed alerts and a live web map.
Hardware store — colonelpanic.tech
A unified index for the Mesh-Detect hardware family — boards, firmwares, enclosures, and the companion web app. Everything links to the actual project repos; this README is the entry point.
| Boards + kits | colonelpanic.tech |
| Build guide | Hackster.io |
| Web app | drone-mesh-mapper |
| Author | @colonelpanichacks |
Live web map that ingests Remote-ID detections from Mesh-Detect boards over USB serial, plots drones + pilots in real time, overlays live ADS-B air traffic, and supports offline tile caching for field work with no internet.
colonelpanichacks/drone-mesh-mapper
| Capability | Detail |
|---|---|
| Real-time drone + pilot markers | Remote-ID broadcasts plotted live with dead-reckoning between updates |
| ADS-B air traffic overlay | adsb.lol, adsb.fi, airplanes.live, OpenSky, dump1090/readsb, Beast TCP |
| Offline maps | MBTiles cache, place search, configurable cache regions — fully usable off-grid |
| Geofencing | Polygon / circle / rectangle, per-fence color, drone or aircraft tag filters, per-fence webhooks |
| OSINT classification | Aircraft auto-classified (military / government / police / commercial / private); drones user-tagged |
| Exports | KML / CSV per session + cumulative history |
| Onboarding wizard | First-boot setup for USB ports, ADS-B source, default basemap, webhooks |
| One-line Pi install | bash <(wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colonelpanichacks/drone-mesh-mapper/main/RPI/install_rpi.sh) |
| Firmware | What it does | Toolchain |
|---|---|---|
| BLE/WiFi OUI Detection | Configurable BLE + WiFi surveillance detection with web UI config portal. Mesh alerts via Meshtastic. | PlatformIO |
| Deepwoods Device Detection | Scans WiFi + BT to build a baseline, alerts when new devices appear. | Arduino IDE |
| Privacy Version | OUI sniffer with surveillance OUIs baked in (no user config). | Arduino IDE |
| Firmware | What it does | Toolchain |
|---|---|---|
| Drone Mesh Mapper firmware | Dual-core ESP32-S3 / ESP32-C5 / Heltec V3 firmware bundled with the web app. Remote detection node + home dedup/relay node, BLE + WiFi RID. | PlatformIO |
Set the Heltec V3 (or any Meshtastic receiver node) to serial mode and match the pins. Both the detection node and the receiver must share the same Meshtastic channel.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Serial | Enabled |
| Baud Rate | 115200 |
| Mode | TextMessage |
| RX Pin | 19 |
| TX Pin | 20 |
Official cases plus community-contributed designs:
| Model | Source | Designer |
|---|---|---|
| Mesh-Detect Case | MakerWorld | Colonel Panic |
| Mesh-Detect Keychain | MakerWorld | Colonel Panic |
| Modular Mesh Detect Case | Printables | prestia (community) |
| Mesh Detect Board SMA Mount | Printables | Nitekry D Paul (community) |
Made an enclosure for Mesh-Detect? Open a PR adding it to this table.
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| ESP32 not detected | Hold the BOOT button while plugging in the device. |
| Wrong board target | Confirm you're using the ESP32 module specified in the firmware's platformio.ini. |
| No mesh traffic | Check Meshtastic serial settings (above) and verify both nodes share the same channel + region. |
| Web map shows no aircraft | Toggle the ADS-B switch in the AIR TRAFFIC panel; first poll takes ~8s. |
| Tiles fail to cache | Verify network access; check the offline-mapping panel's job log for HTTP errors. |
Remote-ID firmware originally based on work by cemaxecuter / alphafox02. Thanks to Luke Switzer for ongoing contributions to this project.
3D enclosure designs by Colonel Panic, prestia, and Nitekry D Paul.
Hardware + kits → colonelpanic.tech