Meshtastic-GOSHkathmandu
Paxcounter: counting nearby devices
The Paxcounter module turns an ESP32 Meshtastic node into a people-counter: it scans for nearby WiFi and Bluetooth devices and broadcasts the counts over LoRa at a set interval. It doesn’t record who is nearby, only how many devices it saw.
Requirements
- An ESP32 board (the Heltec V3 and the XIAO ESP32S3 both qualify; nRF52 boards don’t).
- Firmware 2.2.17 or newer.
- WiFi and Bluetooth must both be turned off on that node, because the module uses the radios to scan. That means a Paxcounter node can’t also report to MQTT over WiFi or talk to the phone app over Bluetooth; use USB, or let another node relay the counts.
Official docs: Paxcounter module.
Set it up
meshtastic --set network.wifi_enabled false --set bluetooth.enabled false
meshtastic --set paxcounter.enabled true --set paxcounter.paxcounter_update_interval 60
Or click Paxcounter sensor in the control panel, which applies the same settings.
Watch the counts
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Control panel: the “Devices nearby” card shows the latest total and a WiFi and Bluetooth chart, and offers a CSV download.
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Terminal:
tools/paxwatch.pyprints each report as it arrives, for examplePAX !a1f80460 wifi=3 ble=7 total=10 ##########.
A classroom demo
Put one Paxcounter node on a desk and connect a second node to a laptop running the panel. Then walk a few people with phones in and out of the room: the count rises and falls within a report interval or two.
Good to know
- Phones randomise their WiFi and Bluetooth addresses, so counts are estimates of devices, not people: one person may carry several devices or none.
- The counts travel on the default channel, so anyone on that channel can see them.
- The idea comes from the standalone ESP32-Paxcounter project.
Next: Map reporting →