Skip to content

Firmware

The ESP32 code that runs in the apiary. Two sketches, one for each role a node can play.

What it does

  • sender/ — the sensor node. Reads temperature, humidity and hive weight, then transmits.
  • receiver/ — the gateway node. The node with an internet connection; it forwards readings on to the MQTT broker.
  • HX711/ — vendored load-cell amplifier library, used to read the four weight cells.

Key facts
Toolchain Arduino IDE ≥ 2.0 with ESP32 board support (esp32 by Espressif)
Libraries HX711, DHT sensor library, PubSubClient, ArduinoJson
Board ESP32 Dev Module
Credentials receiver/credentials.h, created from credentials.h.example — never commit it
License GPL-3.0

The credentials file carries the broker address, the MQTT user and password (matching MQTT_USER and MQTT_PASSWORD in the server's .env), and the WiFi SSID and password.

Documentation lags the system

The firmware README describes MQTT over WiFi and does not yet mention the Meshtastic LoRa mesh that carries readings from a sensor node to the gateway. The mesh leg is real — see Architecture. Treat the upstream README as authoritative for build and flashing steps, and this site for how the pieces connect.

Full documentation

https://github.com/fablab-imperia/meshbee-firmware

  • Hardware — the board this runs on.
  • MQTT — what the gateway publishes to.
  • MQTT payload — the format a node must send.