Seeed Launches "the Smallest LoRa Dev Kit in the World" with a View to Compact Meshtastic Deployment

Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist Seeed Studio has announced what it claims is "the smallest LoRa dev kit in the world," targeting those looking to experiment with the Meshtastic mesh networking project in a compact and low-cost package: the XIAO ESP32S3 for Meshtastic & LoRa bundle.

"Sized as small as your thumb, and priced at only $9.90, it‘s the smallest dev kit for prototyping your first Meshtastic and LoRa/LoRaWAN projects," claims Seeed's Zero Zhang of the company's latest launch. "Pre-flashed with Meshtastic firmware, it is ready to work once powered on. [It] can be developed as a Meshtastic node or router, a single-channel LoRaWAN gateway, or a LoRa & LoRaWAN sensor."

The heart of the kit is, unsurprisingly, the XIAO ESP32S3 — one of Seeed's thumb-sized XIAO development boards, based around the Espressif ESP32-S3. To this Seeed has added a Wio-SX1262 backpack, which sits atop the microcontroller without increasing its footprint, and delivers a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver in addition to the EPS32-S3's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radios.

The kit, which does rely on external antennas, is primarily designed with Meshtastic in mind — an open-source initiative to deliver robust mesh networking for messaging and location tracking over LoRa radio links. Lacking, as it does, a screen, the hardware is controlled via the Meshtastic companion app from a smartphone or tablet — though the firmware can be replaced and the bundle used for general LoRa or LoRaWAN experimentation too.

This isn't Seeed's first foray into the world of Meshtastic: back in July the company released a new variant of its Wio Tracker 1110 with support for the mesh network project plus a Meshtastic firmware for existing Wio Tracker users, and in August unveiled the SenseCAP T1000-E — a new model in the T1000 Card Tracker family which delivers an IP65-rated sealed chassis and full Meshtastic support in a credit-card footprint.

The XIAO ESP32S3 for Meshtastic & LoRa is now available to pre-order on the Seeed store, ahead of late-November shipping, at just $9.90 including the XIAO ESP32S3, Wio-SX1262, and flexible antennas for both radios.