Experimental LTE OTA extension for MeshCore – XIAO ESP32-S3 + A7670E

[Booner2000]

Hi MeshCore developers and community,

I'd like to share an experimental open-source project I've been working on:

MeshCore LTE OTA
https://github.com/Booner2000/meshcore-lte-ota

The goal is to enable remote firmware updates for MeshCore repeaters via LTE, particularly for installations at remote locations without Wi-Fi access.

The current implementation uses:

• Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 with Wio-SX1262
• SIMCom A7670E LTE modem
• HTTPS firmware downloads
• Ed25519-signed firmware verification
• Flash readback verification
• Boot health confirmation and automatic rollback
• Modem sleep/wake control for future low-power operation

The extension is designed to remain separate from the upstream MeshCore codebase, requiring only minimal integration changes.

Current status: Signed LTE firmware installation, verification and rollback have been successfully tested on an externally powered hardware setup. Battery operation and power supply switching are still under development.

I'd be interested in feedback from the MeshCore developers, particularly regarding compatibility with future upstream releases and opportunities to improve the integration.

Contributions, suggestions and technical discussions are very welcome!

Thanks for the great MeshCore project!