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Setup and other information

Welcome to the code setup portion of the Interdrone Communication documentation. THis guide walks through everything needed to have everything set up and running. Warning in advanced, this is a very long and detailed document so I wish you luck in going through all of it.

Drone Mesh Network Setup Guide

Project: IARC-10 | Hardware: Raspberry Pi Zero 2W | OS: Ubuntu 25.10

1. Initial Image Flashing

When using the Raspberry Pi Imager, apply the following custom settings:

General Tab

  • Hostname: mrrdt-# (replace # with drone ID)
  • Username: mrrdt-#
  • Password: mrrdt
  • Wireless LAN: * SSID: MST-GUEST (or local wifi)
    • Password: miner2020
    • Country: US
    • Hidden SSID: UNSELECTED

Services Tab

  • Enable SSH: Use password authentication.

2. Network Discovery & Connection

If you are on Windows, ensure you have nmap and PuTTY (for plink) installed.

Automatic Discovery (PowerShell)

Run the scanning script from your local machine to find the Pi's IP: 

# Default scan
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\ssh_scanner.ps1 /23 -Username mrrdt-#

# If password isn't default
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\ssh_scanner.ps1 /23 -Username mrrdt-# -Password [YOUR_PASS]


Scan for devices with SSH open:

```bash
nmap -p 22 --open <ip-addr>/23 | findstr "Nmap scan report"

SSH in:

ssh <drone-name>@<ip-addr>

4 Update + Install Dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt install net-tools network-manager batctl iw -y

5 Install Python (uv)

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
sudo mv ~/.local/bin/uv /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv ~/.local/bin/uvx /usr/local/bin/

uv python install 3.12
uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate

6 Clone Repo

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/MissouriMRR/IARC-10.git
cd IARC-10
git checkout IARC-LVP

7 (Optional) Change Network

cd /etc/netplan
sudo vi 50-cloud-init.yaml
sudo netplan apply

BATMAN Mesh (Manual Setup)

Find USB adapter name:

ip link show

Configure mesh:

sudo nmcli device set <UAIN> managed no
sudo ip link set <UAIN> down
sudo iw dev <UAIN> set type ibss
sudo ip link set <UAIN> up
sudo iw dev <UAIN> ibss join my-batman-mesh 5200 HT20 fixed-freq 02:ca:fe:ca:ca:40
sudo batctl if add <UAIN>
sudo ip link set bat0 up
sudo ip addr add 169.254.97.X/24 dev bat0
  • Replace X with unique number (same subnet).

Startup Script Setup

Set hostname:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname mrrdt-#
sudo reboot

Install mesh script:

sudo vi /usr/local/bin/batman-mesh-setup.sh
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/batman-mesh-setup.sh

Add systemd service:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/batman-mesh.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable batman-mesh.service
sudo systemctl start batman-mesh.service

Debug:

sudo systemctl status batman-mesh.service
sudo journalctl -u batman-mesh.service -f

Message Structure

Option 1

MessageData = {
    "messageId": 4,
    "timestamp": 0.0,
    "senderId": droneId,
    "payload": "Hello server!",
}

Option 2

```python MessageData = { "messageId": 4, "payload": {} }