documentation · v1

The complete guide

Everything needed to install, pair, calibrate and troubleshoot OmniSignal MeshLink on any phone, tablet or computer — including what to do when a radio, camera or network isn't available.

Open the app Read the physics note

Section bodies stay in English for technical accuracy; headings, navigation and controls follow your language.

1 · What OmniSignal is

OmniSignal is a concept connectivity system in two halves. MeshLink is the software — a progressive web app that runs on any modern phone, tablet or computer. The OmniSignal node is the portable hardware it drives: a battery-and-solar hotspot with WiFi, sub-GHz mesh, cellular and a satellite fallback.

The app is fully usable without hardware. In that mode every radio, peer and power rail is simulated from live device sensors and deterministic models, so you can learn the whole workflow, record coverage, share reports and test pairing paths before a node ever exists.

Runs everywhere

Any browser with a modern engine: iOS 16.4+, Android 10+, Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS. Installable offline.

Degrades gracefully

Missing Bluetooth, GPS, camera or network each have a documented fallback path. Nothing is a dead end.

Honest scope: read the physics note. OmniSignal orchestrates radios that already exist. It does not create free energy.

2 · Install on your device

MeshLink installs as a PWA — no app store, no account required to start.

iPhone / iPad (Safari)

Open the site in Safari → Share → Add to Home Screen → Add. Launch from the home-screen icon so it runs full screen. Chrome on iOS cannot install; use Safari.

Android (Chrome / Edge)

Tap the Install app banner, or menu ⋮ → Install app / Add to Home screen.

Windows / macOS / Linux

Chrome, Edge or Brave: click the install icon in the address bar, or menu → Install OmniSignal. Safari on macOS: File → Add to Dock.

Offline USB kit — one-click install

For field laptops with no internet: copy the USB kit folder to a stick, then double-click install.cmd on Windows or install.command on macOS/Linux. It verifies every file against CHECKSUMS.txt, copies the bundle into your own user folder, writes a launcher with the port already configured, adds a desktop / Start Menu / Applications shortcut, then serves the app on localhost so Bluetooth and camera still work — the stick can be removed afterwards. Options: --port 8123, --dest, --no-shortcut, --no-launch, --no-self-test, --uninstall. Prefer nothing installed? Run start.sh / start.cmd straight from the stick.

Watching the install progress

The installer prints eight numbered steps — bundle check, free space, SHA-256 verify, copy, launcher, shortcuts, finish, self-test — each ending in OK, SKIP or FAIL. Verify and copy show a live percentage bar with bytes done and the current file, so a slow stick never looks frozen. Anything that fails stops the install, prints the reason and the fix (re-copy the stick, free space, or use --dest), and a final summary lists every step with the ones that never started. Add --quiet for silent scripted installs.

Post-install self-test

The last step proves the install actually works: it starts the configured launcher, polls http://localhost:PORT/ for up to 25 seconds, confirms the response is HTTP 200 and is the real app page, then opens your browser. If the server exits at once (usually a busy port), never answers, or serves an incomplete app/ folder, the step reports FAIL with the reason and the fix — try --port 8123 or re-run the installer — and exits with code 2 so scripted rollouts notice. Skip it with --no-self-test.

HTTPS is mandatory.

Bluetooth, camera (QR), geolocation and service workers are blocked on plain http:// origins. Use the published HTTPS URL or localhost. The app shows a blocking banner if the context is insecure.

3 · First run and pairing

Open the device app. The onboarding wizard runs once and remembers where you stopped.

1
Preflight
The app checks secure context, Bluetooth availability, camera, location and storage. Anything red gets an inline explanation and a fix. You can continue with warnings.
2
Grant permissions
Location powers the coverage map and routing scores. Notifications power alerts. Camera is only for QR pairing. Each one is optional and re-requestable later from Settings.
3
Choose a pairing path
QR scan is fastest. Bluetooth discovers nodes directly. If either is unavailable the app automatically offers the No-Bluetooth paths: LAN discovery, SoftAP gateway, cloud relay, or a virtual software node for evaluation.
4
Manual fallback
If the camera can't lock on within 15 seconds, a manual panel appears. Type the node ID in the form OMX-XXXX, or paste the full payload from the node label and the fields auto-fill. Validated IDs are remembered so re-pairing is one tap.
5
GPS calibration
A short calibration fixes your position and the local noise floor. Skip it and routing still works, but placement suggestions get less accurate.

4 · Tour of the dashboard

Every tab has its own shareable URL, so you can send someone straight to the view you're looking at.

Overview

Live link quality, active uplink, throughput, node health. Start here.

Peers

Radar view of nearby nodes with signal, hop count and battery.

Routing

Topology graph plus the score that explains why the current path won — signal, latency, hops, battery.

Power

Battery, solar input, harvested ambient power and projected runtime.

Analyze

Ambient RF, EMF/PEMF harvest, spectrum scope, speed test, channel scanner, enrollment test.

Capture

Record signal readings offline; sync them later with de-duplication.

Comms

Mesh chat, SOS beacon, waypoints and data-usage accounting.

History & Alerts

24-hour trend charts, plus threshold-based alerts with push notifications.

Deep links: /app?tab=routing, /analyze/speedtest, or add &hl=hold to keep the highlight ring on a linked widget until you dismiss it.

5 · Ambient RF, EMF and PEMF

The Analyze tab models energy already in the air around you — FM and DTV broadcast, cellular downlink, satellite spill, mains hum and low-frequency PEMF fields — and estimates how much usable power a node could rectify from it.

1
Run the sensor health check
Verifies gain stability, noise-floor quality and baseline drift. Do this before trusting any reading.
2
Calibrate for your location
The 5-step wizard sets your noise floor, sweeps gain and records a frequency baseline. Profiles are per-location and per-device.
3
Watch freshness
A freshness score warns you when a profile is stale — too old, or the spectrum shape no longer matches where you calibrated. Re-run the wizard when it turns amber.
4
One-tap enrollment test
Simulates the full 802.11u handshake against the harvested power rail — beacon, ANQP, credential match, OWE key exchange, uplink — and tells you which device families (phone, tablet, laptop) can auto-join. Replay the trace step-by-step afterwards.

6 · Coverage capture and reports

1
Record offline
Start a capture session in the Capture tab and walk your area. Readings queue locally — no connectivity needed.
2
Sync when you're back
Syncing is idempotent: every reading carries a UUID and server acknowledgement, so re-running a sync never duplicates data.
3
Read the map
The map view plots signal strength as a heat grid and marks the gaps where coverage dies.
4
Share a report
Reports summarise signal quality, uplink choices and suggested hotspot placement for a GPS area, and share as a single link. Sensitive values — coordinates, identifiers — are redacted before export.

7 · Troubleshooting

Buttons look dead / nothing responds

Usually a stale service worker. Fully close the installed app and reopen it, or load the site with ?sw=off once to clear the cached shell.

Bluetooth unavailable

Safari on iOS and Firefox do not implement Web Bluetooth at all. This is not a bug you can configure away — use QR pairing or a No-Bluetooth path. On Chrome, check that Bluetooth is on at the OS level and that the site has the permission.

Pairing fails partway

Open the troubleshooting panel. It classifies the raw error into a likely cause and a recommended fix, shows a per-path checklist (clock skew, permission denied, node asleep, out of range) and lets you retry the failed stage alone.

QR won't scan

Poor light, a smudged lens or an unsupported barcode engine. Wait for the manual fallback, then type or paste the node ID.

No alerts arriving

Notifications must be granted per-install. On iOS, push only works after the app is added to the home screen. Check your thresholds aren't set beyond what your link ever reaches.

Something crashed

Export a debug report from the onboarding footer or the error panel. Redaction is on by default; you can preview exactly what leaves your device, adjust per-field rules, and copy or upload it to support.

8 · Privacy and data

Telemetry, captures and calibration profiles live in your browser's local storage by default. Nothing leaves the device unless you sync, share a report or upload a debug bundle.

Automatic redaction

Tokens, API keys, emails and precise coordinates are scrubbed from every report and error log before it is stored or transmitted.

Owner-scoped uploads

Debug uploads are written to owner-scoped private storage. Anonymous uploads can be claimed by your account after sign-in, and are only readable by you or authorised staff.

Sign-in is optional

You only need an account to sync verification state across devices and to claim earlier anonymous uploads.

Reset anything

Clearing site data removes all local state. The onboarding wizard will simply run again.

9 · Device compatibility

Platform	Install	Bluetooth	QR	Push
Android · Chrome/Edge	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iOS/iPadOS · Safari 16.4+	Yes	No — use QR	Yes	Home screen only
Windows · Chrome/Edge	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
macOS · Chrome/Edge	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
macOS · Safari	Add to Dock	No — use QR	Yes	Yes
Linux/ChromeOS · Chrome	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Firefox · any OS	No	No — use QR	Yes	Yes

Where Bluetooth is unavailable, the No-Bluetooth paths (LAN, SoftAP, relay, virtual node) cover the same workflow end to end.

Still stuck?

Export a redacted debug report from the app and send it along — it contains the diagnosis, matched error tokens and your device profile, with personal identifiers stripped.

Go to the app