WanderNode Hub — Decision Log
Running log of decisions across Stages 0-10. Cites existing April 2026 canonical spec + this 2026-04-24 SOP v2 session.
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Stage 0 — Feature-parity sweep (2026-04-24)
- Scope: smart-home + local-AI home hub
- Competitive set: Home Assistant Green $99 / Yellow $149-349 / Hubitat Elevation $150 / SmartThings Hub $70 / Echo Hub $180 / Nest Hub $150 / Aqara M3 $170 / Amazon Halo home hub (discontinued) / Apple HomePod (not a hub)
- Primary differentiator (unique): "Uncensored local AI that serves communities corporate AI refuses" — DV survivors, undocumented, trans in hostile states, safety-planning contexts where cloud AI refuses to help
- 11 LEADS / 4 MATCHES / 6 LAGS per
_COMPETITIVE-AUDIT-2026-04-24.md
Stage 1 — Intake + freeze (2026-04-24)
- Device IDs:
WV-HUB-LITE / WV-HUB-STD / WV-HUB-PRO / WV-HUB-ULTRA
- 4-tier architecture inherited from existing April 2026 spec v1.1 (no re-invention)
- Ship target locked: Lite/Hub 2027-Q3 · Pro 2028-Q1 · Ultra 2028-Q3
- Revision: v1.2-candidate
Stage 2 — Component selection
Tier compute (from existing v1.1 spec):
- Lite: Raspberry Pi 5 8GB + 1TB NVMe + Coral USB TPU + Zigbee SLZB-06 PoE coordinator + RAK LoRa concentrator
- Hub (flagship): Raspberry Pi 5 16GB + 1TB NVMe + Coral TPU + Zigbee + LoRa (note: LPDDR4 pricing makes 16GB variant $305, 8GB $175)
- Pro: Ryzen 8845HS mini-PC class (32GB RAM) + GPU (integrated Radeon 780M) + Coral + Zigbee + LoRa — 20-30× faster local AI inference than Pi 5 at same landed cost
- Ultra Hardened: Pro silicon + 5G modem (Telit FN990Axx — validated per router Perplexity round) + RTK GNSS + LiFePO4 UPS + optional IP54 enclosure + optional Z-Wave
Smart-home protocols (all tiers):
- Matter 1.3+ controller (via Silicon Labs RCP or Nordic nRF52840)
- Thread border router (dedicated chip or RCP)
- Zigbee 3.0 coordinator (SLZB-06 PoE network-attached — preferred over USB for signal isolation)
- Z-Wave (optional module — still huge community)
- Bluetooth LE mesh
- ESPHome + MQTT broker
- WiFi 6 / 6E for IoT devices
Local AI stack:
- Lite (8GB Pi): Llama 3.2 3B (~3-5 tok/sec) — handles quick automations + WanderAssist basic
- Hub (16GB Pi): Llama 3.1 7B / Qwen 2.5 7B (~6-10 tok/sec) — full WanderAssist + HRT-aware health coaching + safety planning conversations
- Pro (32GB Ryzen + Radeon 780M): Llama 3.1 13B (20-30 tok/sec via ROCm) — real-time conversational AI, batch-processing capable
- Ultra (32GB Ryzen): Pro stack + RTK-positioned voice assistant + HAVEN-optimized safety-planning + offline doc translation
Storage:
- Lite: 1TB M.2 NVMe (WD SN770 / Samsung 980)
- Hub: 1TB NVMe + optional 2.5" SATA bay
- Pro: 2TB NVMe + 8TB SATA bay possible
- Ultra: 2TB NVMe RAID-1 + 8TB SATA + backup redundancy
Stage 3 — Compatibility
- Pi 5 + Coral + SLZB-06 PoE Zigbee + LoRa: validated by existing Home Assistant community (thousands of deployments)
- Pi 5 heat: 27W PSU recommended; Argon NEO 5 M.2 case with active cooling
- Ryzen 8845HS mini-PCs: multiple OEM options (Minisforum UM870 Slim, GMKtec NucBox, Beelink); validated via Perplexity SBC selection research
- Telit FN990Axx over USB 3.0 to Pi 5 / Ryzen box: standard integration pattern
- Smart-home radio coexistence: Zigbee 2.4 GHz + BLE + WiFi 2.4 + Thread all 2.4 GHz band — interference possible; use channel planning + time-slicing
- RTK GNSS (Ultra): requires clear sky view; antenna placement on outer enclosure
Stage 4 — Sourcing
- Pi 5 supply: mitigated per existing v1.1 spec (secondary market premium of $20-40/unit if tight); allocated stock via authorized distributors
- Coral TPU: Google has wound down some lines — flag to verify direct supply; alternate = Hailo-8 M.2 ($80) or integrated Ryzen NPU for Pro+
- Ryzen 8845HS mini-PCs: pricing $350-550 depending on OEM; can also build from barebones + RAM/SSD
- SLZB-06 Zigbee: open-source hardware; Sonoff/SMLIGHT direct + community resellers
- RAK LoRa concentrator: RAK Wireless direct + distributors
- 5G modem, RTK, LiFePO4 UPS (Ultra): per WanderRouter Ultra sourcing (already documented)
See SOURCING.csv for full supplier + RFQ status table.
Stage 5 — DFM/DFA/DFT
- Lite/Hub: minimal custom PCB — mostly reference-assembly of Pi 5 + Argon case + standard USB modules. Ambassador assembly ~20-30 min/unit.
- Pro: more integration work (mini-PC + external Coral + Zigbee USB + LoRa USB + custom cable harness + premium enclosure). ~40-50 min/unit.
- Ultra Hardened: custom PCB for LiFePO4 UPS + 5G modem integration + RTK + IP54 sealing + rugged harness. ~70-90 min/unit.
Test coverage: 12-tier tests for Lite/Hub, 15-tier for Pro, 18-tier for Ultra.
Stage 6 — Thermal/EMC
- Lite/Hub: Argon NEO 5 M.2 case has active fan; Pi 5 handles typical load fine
- Pro: Ryzen mini-PC internal fan (OEM) + our external chassis ambient
- Ultra: passive cooling only (IP54 = no fan intake) + larger heatsink surface; thermal budget 25W sustained
- EMC: most components come pre-certified (Pi 5, Coral, SLZB-06, RAK, Ryzen mini-PC); our integration just needs FCC Part 15 B declaration
- SAR (Ultra cellular): per-Router-Ultra validation pattern
Stage 7 — Compliance
- FCC Part 15 B: device-level test + declaration ($3-5k)
- CE RED: $3-5k
- UKCA + ISED + ACMA: $3-5k marginal
- Matter 1.3+ CSA controller cert: ~$5-10k + specific testing + membership annual fee
- Thread Group certification: ~$3-5k
- Zigbee Alliance cert (via SLZB-06 passthrough): inherited
- Z-Wave Alliance cert (Ultra optional): $5k if we include Z-Wave
- 5G Cellular (Ultra only): PTCRB + per-carrier + SAR (same as Router Ultra)
- UL 62368-1: required for Ultra (LiFePO4 UPS mains connection) — ~$10-15k
- UN38.3 + IEC 62133 + UL 1642: battery cert for Ultra — inherited from Router Ultra same chemistry
Cumulative cert budget: Lite/Hub ~$20k · Pro ~$25k · Ultra adds ~$60-80k (cellular + battery + UL)
Stage 8 — Canonical BOM + GUIDE + STLs
See BOM-platform.csv + BOM-modules.csv + GUIDE.md + STL-OPEN-FILES/README.md.
Stage 9 — HW↔FW binding
- OS: Home Assistant OS (HAOS) base + WanderOS-Hub overlay
- Voice: Whisper.cpp + Piper TTS + Ollama for local AI
- Smart-home backend: Home Assistant + Zigbee2MQTT + ZWave-JS + ESPHome + Node-RED
- WanderVerse integrations: custom HA integrations for WanderRouter / WanderBand / WanderCam / WanderSense / WanderCar / WanderRx / HAVEN
- OTA updates: HAOS native + WanderOS layer updates
Stage 10 — Gate review
EVT/DVT/PVT stages per GATE.md; WanderNode Hub family ships alongside Router family 2027-Q3 (Lite + Hub), Pro 2028-Q1, Ultra 2028-Q3.
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Critical decisions this session
| # | Decision | Impact |
|---|
| 1 | Keep 4-tier architecture from existing v1.1 spec | no re-invention |
| 2 | Apply dual-mode standalone + industry-integration + WanderVerse-native | Hub works standalone with just HA; exponentially deeper in ecosystem |
| 3 | "Uncensored local AI for underserved communities" remains the primary LEAD narrative | unique category positioning |
| 4 | Feed 60/30/10 Community Pool per Ambassador Program | consistent with family |
| 5 | Ultra Hardened = salvage of "fever dream" 5G + RTK + resilience kit into sustainable $1,999-2,999 retail | matches v1.1 spec |
| 6 | Nonprofit subsidy pricing ($399 / $499 / $599 / $1,399) as grant-funded tier | WWP-aligned |
| 7 | 7-year parts + firmware commitment across all tiers | Standard 4 |
| 8 | Ambassador-assembled all tiers (longer for Pro+Ultra due to integration) | Standard 1 |
| 9 | Open STL enclosure files + community remixing | repair culture |
| 10 | Matter 1.3+ controller as ship-day feature for whole family | closes Router-delegation gap |
D-NN — Radio function-class adopts Semtech LR2021 (LoRa Gen 4) as primary
Date: 2026-04-25 Strategy: hybrid
What changes: Radio architecture migrates to Semtech LR2021 (LoRa Plus, multi-PHY single-chip with sub-GHz + 2.4 GHz + S-band NTN satellite). Replaces previous SX1262 + nRF52840 + CC2652R7 multi-chip approach. Throughput 40× (62.5 kbps → 2.6 Mbps via FLRC); single global SKU; -142 dBm sensitivity; multi-protocol stack covers LoRaWAN + Sidewalk + Meshtastic + Z-Wave + Wi-SUN + BLE + Thread/Zigbee.
Sole-source variance: Semtech is sole-source for LR2021. Per SOLE-SOURCE-VARIANCE-LR2021.md:
- This product is Tier-1 critical, retains hybrid alt-source path: Founding-tier ships SX1262 + nRF52840 (proven dual-source); Pro / Global SKU ships LR2021 (single-chip, satellite-capable).
- Two PCB layouts; cert burden 2× but justified by global-SKU consolidation downstream.
Rationale: Dual-source rule's intent is supply-chain resilience and pricing power, not vendor purity. Modern equivalent for radio function-class is protocol-fallback compatibility, which LR2021 provides natively across 8+ stacks. Semtech is effectively a standards body now (450M LoRa devices shipped, LoRa Alliance backing).
[rule: dual-source-variance] [rule: dual-source]
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**Note (Perplexity-validated 2026-04-25):** When this doc says LR2021 supports multi-PHY in one chip, the *hardware* is multi-PHY-capable, but full protocol stacks (LoRaWAN, Amazon Sidewalk, Meshtastic, Z-Wave, Wi-SUN, BLE, Thread/Zigbee) integrate via firmware layers, not all bundled native. We ship pre-built stacks for the active set per product. See `PERPLEXITY-VALIDATION-2026-04-25.md` in `_WANDERVERSE-LIBRARY/`.