Internet bridge

What it does

Two LoRa networks that cannot hear each other can exchange messages over the internet. Repeaters on both sides connect to a shared TCP server. Packets received via LoRa are forwarded to all remote repeaters; packets from remote repeaters are injected back into the local LoRa mesh.

Users and apps do not notice the bridge. They use LoRa as normal.

[LoRa mesh A]  ←→  [Repeater A]  ←→  internet  ←→  [Repeater B]  ←→  [LoRa mesh B]

Path 1: ESP32 repeater with WiFi

Flash a _bridge_tcp firmware variant on an ESP32 repeater that has WiFi, then configure it:

set wifi.ssid     YourWiFi
set wifi.password secret123
set bridge.server yourserver.example.com
set bridge.port   4200
set bridge.enabled on

Check the bridge type:

get bridge.type

Path 2: Repeater via USB

Boards without WiFi — nRF52 (RAK4631), RP2040, STM32, or ESP32 boards without WiFi access — can also participate via USB.

Flash the _bridge_rs232 firmware variant and enable the bridge:

set bridge.enabled on

Then run the relay script on a connected PC or Raspberry Pi:

pip install pyserial
python3 tools/usb_bridge_client.py --serial /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud 115200 \
                                    --server yourserver.example.com --port 4200

On Windows use --serial COM3.

Running the server

Start the TCP bridge server on any internet-connected machine with Python 3.7+:

python3 tools/tcp_bridge_server.py --port 4200

No external dependencies. WiFi repeaters and USB repeaters can connect to the same server simultaneously.

Security note

The current TCP bridge does not encrypt traffic. Run the server on a trusted network or VPS with firewall rules limiting access. TLS support is planned for a future release.