Parent Project: Fox Hunting: Community Policing
Initial hardware proposal: 4-element array
Elements
1) Coordinator / wideband sensor
- Raspberry Pi + RTL-SDR + Meshtastic Node + GPS
- Purpose:
- Provide high-bandwidth spectrum visibility (waterfall / channel occupancy)
- Run the “coordination brain” (tasking + logging + map)
2) At least two distributed “spotter” nodes
- ESP32 + CC1101 + Meshtastic Node + GPS (x3)
- Purpose:
- Act as mobile RSSI/SNR spotters that can be placed at different positions (or carried by 3 participants)
- Feed signal strength observations back to the Pi (via mesh, Wi‑Fi, or serial—whatever’s simplest in the field)
Why this split works
- The Pi/RTL‑SDR sees everything happening in-band (and adjacent-band weirdness), quickly.
- The CC1101 spotters give you spatial sampling (multiple points) so you can triangulate faster than “one person walking around squinting at bars.”
Practical build notes
- The Pi should be the “truth recorder”: one canonical log, one canonical map.
- The spotters should be dead simple in the field: one button to “take reading,” one screen to confirm it recorded.
- The fastest early win is not perfect DF math—it’s good data hygiene + repeatable search choreography.
Deliverables
- Real time map view (even a simple one)
- Standardized hardware build instructions
- Standardized software setup instructions
- Field procedure / choreography guide
- Simple but powerful tools for real time analysis and data logging
Connection to the Astromancers’ Very Small Array
This project shares significant DNA with the Very Small Array (VSA) project managed by the Astromancers’ Guild. While the goals differ—Fox Hunting focuses on localizing interference via signal strength (RSSI), while the VSA focuses on astronomy and interferometry via phase and timing—the underlying architecture is remarkably similar.
Shared Hardware Stack
Both projects rely on a distributed network of low-cost sensors:
- Compute: Raspberry Pi (Coordinator) and ESP32 (Nodes).
- Radio: RTL-SDR for wideband analysis and CC1101/LoRa modules for telemetry.
- Coordination: A central “brain” that ingests data from multiple spatially separated observers to form a coherent picture of the RF environment.
Evolutionary Pathway
The Fox Hunting kit serves as an excellent technological stepping stone toward the VSA.
- Level 1 (Fox Hunting): We master the logistics of deploying distributed nodes, time-stamping data, and performing basic triangulation based on signal amplitude (RSSI).
- Level 2 (Very Small Array): We upgrade the software to handle precise time synchronization and phase-coherent sampling, allowing the same (or similar) hardware to perform beamforming and interferometry.
By building this kit, you are effectively building the “MVP” hardware for a distributed radio telescope.