[Mesh] Multiple Mesh communications?

[gcomer]

I saw where you are working out how do to the mesh networking with the frequency hopping. Something I've been wondering is how the mesh might work if you more than one project in close proximity. I know there probably isn't an answer to this yet, but would be interested to hear any thoughts - or maybe prod some discussions on it.

Might be better if I try an example. If I have a few boards working together in a mesh for Project A. Someone working with Project X and their few boards in a mesh happens to come within range. Will the boards in Project A start trying to mesh with boards in Project B? Would there be no interaction unless there were orphans?

I can see benefits if they do form one larger mesh, can see problems as well.

Another way of asking might be, what happens when you have multiple Scouts all driving around at the same time?

[taylor]

Networks will all identify themselves, and each network has a unique channel schedule and hopping pattern. So many networks can coexist in the same space without collisions or interference. It would be nice to build in a way for foreign networks to communicate though. In order for a device to join a new network, it has to know something about that network. This can be achieved by putting one of the network's nodes into pairing mode and pairing the new module with that. The networked unit will communicate network details to the new device and then the new device will join the new network, following along with the frequency hopping.

Multiple Scouts can be used in the same airspace by giving them different network names. We hash the name into a random value and use that as a seed to generate channel schedules. Right now networks are defined in code by the network name, but we will also introduce a way to create new networks on the fly.

[gcomer]

Sounds like there shouldn't be any issues then. Thanks for the info!