Dispersed for hours
Search and rescue
Search teams fan out and lose sight of each other quickly. Each node reports its position, so the incident lead sees every team on one map and can message any of them.
MANET radios for civilians
Off the grid. Still on the map.
Your team runs its own network, with no cell towers and no carrier.
Mesh radios that carry data as well as voice have been priced for government programs. CicadaTAK nodes do the same job in a handheld you can build yourself. Each node meshes over HaLow, 2.4 GHz and LoRa and relays for the others, so a team spread across a ridge, a trail system or a search area keeps sharing positions, messages, photos and voice.
The app
The app handles all configuration.
From first boot to firmware updates. No computer, no command line, no web interface.
Mesh setup anyone on the team can do. Power on the node, join its Wi-Fi, and the app walks you through the rest.
On iOS and Android. No account, no sign-up, no server and no subscription.
- Team positions on satellite maps stored on the phone, with MGRS grid readouts
- Encrypted chat and photo sharing
- Push-to-talk voice
- The mesh drawn link by link, with live throughput
- Works alongside ATAK, iTAK and WinTAK through Cursor on Target
Illustration, drawn to scale
Range
Every node is a relay
A message hops from node to node until it arrives, so each node you add extends the team's reach by about another kilometer. Here, five nodes cover about four kilometers of ridge.
- Node
- HaLow link, about 1 km
- Message relaying
Who it is for
Built for teams that spread out
Most radios keep a team talking. CicadaTAK also shows where everyone is and carries the photos and messages that a voice call can't.
Heavy cover, slow going
Trail and backcountry crews
Under tree canopy, put one node on high ground and it relays for everyone below it. Nodes find each other and route around gaps with nobody configuring anything.
Distances always changing
Vehicle groups
On a rally or a convoy, every vehicle is a relay. The group stays on one map across miles of road, and a node with Starlink shares its internet with the rest.
One uplink for everyone
Camp and base
Leave a node at camp on Ethernet or Starlink. Everyone on the mesh can reach the internet through it, and camp can see everyone who is out.
How it works
A tri-radio mesh in every node
Each node meshes over three radios at once: HaLow, 2.4 GHz and LoRa. A fourth radio is the Wi-Fi access point your phone joins.
HaLow mesh802.11ah · 900 MHz
The backbone. Carries text, photos, voice and positions between nodes, about 1 km per hop, and reroutes when a node drops out.
2.4 GHz meshOptional USB radio
A second mesh link alongside HaLow. When nodes are close together it moves data faster, and the mesh picks the better link for each hop.
LoRa meshMeshtastic or MeshCore · optional
The longest reach, at a low data rate. Positions and alerts keep moving past the edge of the other links, and it talks to existing Meshtastic and MeshCore radios.
Wi-Fi access pointBuilt in · WPA3
The fourth radio is for your phone. It joins the node you carry to run the app, with nothing to pair and no cable.
The node
About the size of a handheld radio
It rides on a belt, a plate carrier or a pack strap, and the antenna and data ports are bulkhead connectors made to be knocked around.
- Size
- 136 × 70 × 46 mm, antennas excluded
- Body
- Anodized aluminum sleeve, printed end caps
- Seals
- TPU, printed into each cap
- Ports
- Radio sled in 56 connector layouts
- HaLow mesh
- 802.11ah, 900 MHz band, 4 MHz channel
- 2.4 GHz mesh
- Optional USB radio, runs alongside HaLow
- LoRa mesh
- Optional, Meshtastic or MeshCore
- Phone access
- Built-in Wi-Fi access point, WPA3
- Encryption
- WPA3-SAE link, plus a team key end to end
- Regions
- US, Canada, Mexico, Australia
Get a node
Choose how much you build
The firmware is a free download, currently v0.23.1. How much of the hardware you assemble yourself is up to you.
Build it yourself
Available nowOrder the parts from the list, flash the firmware and run the setup wizard. The Field Guide covers every step.
Parts list →Builder Kit
Coming soonA node assembled up to the radios. You fit the two radio boards with a screwdriver, and the build is yours.
See the kit →Finished node
After FCC certificationFully assembled units go on sale once the complete device is FCC certified.
Get notified →Nodes operate in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. The radio module is filtered to North American and Australian spectrum, so Europe and the UK are not supported. Want to hear when new firmware ships? Join the release list. It's email only, with no tracking.