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

Minimal case with unsoldered switch sockets. Bring your own Cherry MX-compatible switches and make it yours.

15/150 RESERVED

// LIMITED QUANTITY · DEF CON PICKUP ONLY

Configure your Wayfinder ↗
cool graphic showing two beacons communicating
How It Works

No towers. No apps.
Just radio.

01 // 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.

02 // 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.

03 // 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

Feature Rich.
Anti Minimalist.

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

MCU

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.

INPUT UX

Tactile Input

Five Cherry MX-compatible mechanical switches paired with a detented rotary encoder. Designed to be as satisfying to use as it is functional.

LORA

Lora Meshing

LoRa mesh network with optional encrypted channels. ~500m node to node range. No existing infrastructure required.

NAVIGATION

GPS and orientation

Integrated GPS module for coordinates, magnetometer and dual IMU for gravity-adjusted heading and orientation. The LED ring points to where the action is happening.

OUTPUT UX

Rich UX

A 128×128 OLED display, 61 WS2812B LEDs, haptic motor, and piezo buzzer. Designed to be picked up and used with minimal instruction.

COMPANION APP

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

Celestial Wayfinder

The badge firmware. Hardware init, application windows, LoRa message definitions, and the glue between the hardware and the library.

View on GitHub ↗
CORE LIBRARY

esp32-utilities

The reusable ESP32 library underneath the badge. LoRa mesh, LED animations, Adafruit_GFX-based UI, GPS navigation, MessagePack filesystem, and RPC. Designed to be consumed by other projects.

View on GitHub ↗
On the Roadmap

What's coming next

Coming Soon

Indoor Geolocation

Wi-Fi RSSI-based positioning for indoor tracking where GPS can't reach.

Coming Soon

User Documentation

Detailed write up on setup and how to use your Wayfinder.

Reserve yours online.
Pick it up at DEF CON 34.
Complete — $150 → DIY Kit — $125 →
LIMITED QUANTITY · DEF CON PICKUP ONLY