OpenMANET is an open-source project for building long-range wireless mesh Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) using Raspberry Pi SBCs and Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) chips from Morse Micro. This came up when we wrote about Morse Micro USB WiFi HaLow adapters, and an X user commented that “OpenMANET is going to explode with these available, no more adapter boards or M.2 cards”. OpenMANET targets search and rescue, disaster response, airsoft events, and other off-grid or infrastructure-failed situations. So it looks like an alternative to LoRa-based Meshtastic and Meshcore, with higher bandwidth, at the cost of more expensive hardware and higher power consumption. OpenMANET supports field communications, including push-to-talk, sharing GPS positions, cameras/video streams, and ATAK (Android Team Awareness Kit) integration. The mesh network can access the Internet through a single “mesh gate” over Starlink or cellular connectivity. The project supports a range of hardware platforms including Gateworks Venice, Raspberry Pi  Zero 2 W, [...]

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