As you may know, there are two competing open standards for local mesh networks, Meshtastic and MeshCore. They are both based on the lower-level LORA radio protocol, and have many similar features and applications. THere are some important differences between them, and they’re not inter-compatible, so any local network must choose one or the other.

Meshtastic is:

  • Peer-to-peer: every node forwards the messages it receives to other nodes that it can reach.
  • Conceptually simpler, in that all nodes are nominally equal.
  • Subject to congestion, when many nodes are in the same place.

Meshcore is:

  • Traffic-managed: most nodes don’t forward traffic. Forwarding duties are assigned to specific repeater nodes, which are (ideally) located in places with good line-of-sight to a large area.
  • More-reliable under high utilization, because most nodes only send and recieve their own traffic.