Batear¶
Ultra-low-cost, edge-only acoustic drone detection on ESP32-S3 with encrypted LoRa or wired Ethernet alerting.
"Built for defense, hoping it becomes unnecessary. We believe in a world where no one needs to fear the sky."
Click to watch the bench test demo
What is Batear?¶
Drones are an increasing threat to homes, farms, and communities — and effective detection has traditionally required expensive radar or camera systems. Batear changes that.
For ultra-low-cost hardware, Batear turns a tiny ESP32-S3 microcontroller and a MEMS microphone into an always-on acoustic drone detector. It runs entirely at the edge — no cloud subscription, no internet connection, no ongoing cost. Deploy one at a window, a fence line, or a rooftop and it will alert you the moment drone rotor harmonics are detected nearby.
The same codebase builds as a Detector (mic + LoRa TX), a Gateway (LoRa RX + OLED + LED + MQTT), or a Wired Detector (mic + Ethernet/PoE + MQTT), selectable at build time. The gateway forwards alerts to Home Assistant via MQTT with automatic device discovery. The wired detector connects directly over Ethernet, bypassing the LoRa + Gateway path entirely.
Key Features¶
Acoustic detection — FFT harmonic signature analysis of drone rotor noise
AES-128-GCM encryption — secure LoRa communication between devices
LoRa alerting — long-range, low-power wireless alerts
Home Assistant integration — MQTT with auto-discovery, LWT availability, per-detector topics
Edge-only — no cloud, no internet, no subscription
Ultra-low-cost — under $20 per node with off-the-shelf parts
Wired option — Ethernet/PoE variant for fixed installations (no LoRa needed)
Single codebase — builds as Detector, Gateway, or Wired Detector via config
Quick Start¶
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Web Flasher
Flash firmware from your browser — no toolchain required
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Hardware Setup
Get the parts list and wiring diagram
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Build & Flash
Build the firmware and flash your device
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Configuration
Set up encryption keys, frequencies, and device IDs
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How It Works
Understand the FFT harmonic detection algorithm