How to Visualize Meshtastic Telemetry on Grafana

Meshtastic devices are incredibly powerful for creating long-range, mesh-networked telemetry solutions. However, managing and visualizing telemetry data from these devices can become challenging when you need to analyze trends or spot anomalies. This is where Harbor Scale and Grafana come into play. In this guide, we'll walk you through how to push telemetry data from your Meshtastic node to Harbor Scale and visualize it in Grafana. We’ll also explore how Harbor Scale new Harbor AI feature can help you interact with your data in a whole new way.

What is Meshtastic? - Full Guide on How To Get Started

Meshtastic – an open-source mesh networking platform redefining communication. From decentralized, long-range capabilities to versatile applications in emergency response, outdoor adventures. Discover the diverse hardware options, step-by-step setup guide, and the remarkable range of 5 KM - 10 KM.

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Why Push and View Meshtastic Data on Grafana?

Integrating Meshtastic with Harbor Scale and Grafana gives you powerful tools to visualize and analyze your device data in real-time. Here’s why you should consider using this setup:

• Centralized Data Collection: With Harbor Scale, you can centralize all your Meshtastic telemetry data. This makes it easier to manage, access, and analyze, especially when dealing with large deployments.
• Real-Time Insights: Grafana provides real-time dashboards that enable you to monitor device health, sensor data, and network performance at a glance.
• Customizable Dashboards: Grafana allows you to create tailored dashboards to visualize telemetry data. You can track individual device metrics, analyze trends, and create heatmaps or interactive maps to visualize location data.

Getting Started with Harbor Scale

Let’s walk through how to get started and push your first data point to Harbor Scale. We’ll follow the official documentation, and you can always check the latest guide here: Getting Started Guide.

Step 1: Create Your Account

1. Go to the Sign Up page.
2. Fill in your details and create your account.
3. Check your inbox for a verification email.
4. Click the verification link to activate your account.
5. After activation, log in to your account.
6. Now, head to the Harbor Page.

Step 2: Set Up Your Harbor

1. In the top right corner, click on Create Harbor.
2. Give your harbor a name.
3. Choose the harbor type. For now, select the General type (custom types like GPS or temperature data will be added soon).
4. Choose your Harbor Specifications. If you want to use the free tier, select Free.
5. Click Create Harbor to finish setting up your harbor.
6. After creating your harbor, the harbor list will update, and you’ll see your new harbor listed.
7. Click View Details to access essential information like the API Endpoint, API Endpoint, API Key, Grafana Endpoint, Grafana Username, and Grafana Password.

Step 3: Get Your API Key and Endpoint

1. Find the API Normal Endpoint and API Key.
2. Copy the API Key and API Endpoint. Keep these handy for the next step.

Step 4: Push Your First Data Point

1. Install the Agent Open your terminal and run the universal installer:

# Linux - Requires sudo privileges. You may be asked for a password
curl -sL get.harborscale.com | sudo bash

# Windows - You must run this command in PowerShell as Administrator
iwr get.harborscale.com/ | iex

2. Install the Mesh Engine Download the specific driver that lets Lighthouse talk to LoRa devices:

# Linux - Requires sudo privileges. You may be asked for a password
curl -sL get.harborscale.com/meshtastic | sudo bash

# Windows - You must run this command in PowerShell as Administrator
iwr get.harborscale.com/meshtastic | iex

3. Start the Gateway Plug your Meshtastic device into your computer via USB. Then, run this command to link it to the cloud:

lighthouse --add \
  --name "meshtastic-gateway" \
  --harbor-id "YOUR_HARBOR_ID" \
  --key "YOUR_API_KEY" \
  --source exec \
  --param command="mesh_engine --ttl 3600"

• Replace YOUR_HARBOR_ID and YOUR_API_KEY with the values from Step 3.
• This command tells Lighthouse to listen to the USB device and report any node it hears from.

That's it! The agent is now running in the background. It will automatically collect node metrics (Battery, SNR, RSSI, Environmental) and ship them to Harbor Scale.

Step 5: View Your Data

1. Go back to the Harbor Details page.
2. Copy the Grafana Password and open the Grafana Endpoint.
3. Log in using your Grafana Username (this will be the same as your Harbor Scale email) and the Grafana Password.
4. Once logged in, go to Dashboards and select the Comprehensive Telemetry Dashboard (this is the demo dashboard provided by Harbor Scale).

Inside the dashboard:

• Choose your data source (which will be your harbor).
• Use the filters to view data based on ship_id and cargo_id.
• You’ll see several panels displaying telemetry data. Feel free to customize them or create entirely new ones to suit your needs. If you scroll down, you’ll also see a map (if applicable). This is because, even with the general harbor type, you can push GPS coordinates to visualize location data.

For more information on how to work with GPS data, check out the official guide on GPS data in Harbor Scale.

Harbor AI: Talk to Your Data

Harbor Scale has rolled out the beta version of Harbor AI, an innovative feature that allows you to interact with your data using natural language, enabling you to query your data as if you were talking to a colleague.

How Harbor AI Works

You can ask Harbor AI simple questions about your data without needing to configure dashboards or write complex queries. For example:

• "What was the average Channel Utilization of my nodes last week?"
• "Show me the Battery Level for any node?"
• "How many devices I have?"

Why Use Harbor AI?

• Ease of Use: No need to create complex dashboards or write SQL queries.
• Instant Answers: Get immediate responses to your questions.
• Time-Saving: Focus on analysis rather than dashboard configuration.

Harbor AI Beta Limitations

As Harbor AI is still in beta, users are limited to 10 queries per day. Future updates will likely increase this limit and improve AI capabilities.

Conclusion

Integrating Meshtastic telemetry with Harbor Scale and Grafana gives you complete visibility into your Meshtastic network, enabling real-time monitoring, customizable dashboards, and dynamic location data visualization.

Additionally, with the new Harbor AI feature, you can simply ask your data for insights without the need for complex queries or dashboards. Whether you are a developer, hobbyist, or business professional, Harbor Scale offers a powerful solution for managing and visualizing telemetry data.