DEF CON Badge

Celestial
Wayfinder

A LoRa mesh badge that maps who's where and what's happening.

Complete — $150 →

COMPLETE · $150

Clamshell case, pre-soldered Cherry MX switches, keycaps, and encoder knob — ready to use out of the box.

DIY Kit — $125 →

DIY KIT · $125

Unsoldered switch sockets. Bring your own Cherry MX-compatible switches and make it yours.

88/150 RESERVED

// LIMITED QUANTITY · DEF CON PICKUP ONLY

Configure your Wayfinder ↗ Read the User Guide ↗

cool graphic showing two beacons communicating

How It Works

No towers. No cell service.
Just radio.

BROADCAST

Ping your location

Lock onto GPS satellites and broadcast your coordinates, username, a status message, and a color over LoRa. Minimal to no setup required.

MESH

The mesh builds itself

Every Wayfinder in range automatically relays pings it hears to badges further out. The mesh extends your reach well beyond direct radio line-of-sight.

NAVIGATE

The ring points the way

A ring of LEDs acts as a live compass, rotating to point directly toward other badge holders.

3D Model

Explore the hardware

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PCB CASE

// INTERACTIVE · DRAG TO ROTATE · SCROLL TO ZOOM

V3 Hardware

Third iteration.
Battle tested.

Battle tested since 2023. Refined through real-world testing at festivals, conventions, and outdoor events.

ESP32-S3

ESP32-S3 microcontroller offers WiFi, BLE, and USB connectivity along with a generous amount of GPIO to power a device with many bells and whistles.

Tactile Input, Rich UX

Five Cherry MX-compatible mechanical switches paired with a detented rotary encoder make it as satisfying to use as it is functional, backed by a 128×128 OLED display, 61 WS2812B LEDs, a haptic motor, and a piezo buzzer, all designed to be picked up and used with minimal instruction.

Lora Meshing

LoRa mesh network with walkie talkie style frequency channels, ~750m node to node range, and no existing infrastructure required. An optional encryption layer lets you assign a key to a channel, keeping it private to only badges that know the key.

GPS and orientation

Integrated GPS module for coordinates, magnetometer and dual IMU for gravity-adjusted heading and orientation. When GPS is unavailable, the badge falls back to Wi-Fi RSSI-based geolocation using an access point database loaded onto the device, keeping a usable position indoors and outdoors.

Easy Setup

The companion PWA handles initial setup: device settings, preloaded messages, and saved coordinates. Once configured, the Wayfinder operates fully standalone. No phone required in the field.

Full Specs

Everything under the hood

Hardware

ESP32-S3 microcontroller
Custom 4-layer PCB
128×128 OLED display
SX1276 LoRa
Case: carabiner and lanyard attachment points
Integrated GPS module
Magnetometer + IMU
5× Cherry MX-compatible mechanical switches
Tactile rotary encoder
61 WS2812B LEDs
Buzzer: new message alert

Power

Prismatic lithium-ion cell
Buck converter charger — ~1 hour full charge
Solid-state soft power switch
Auto-shutdown at low battery

Firmware

Custom LoRa mesh: self-healing, minimal config
Custom windowing UI system
Flash-persisted saved messages and locations
Open source

Open Source

Open source.
No strings attached.

APPLICATION FIRMWARE