Security
Budapest team sends quantum-key encrypted Meshtastic radio messages across Margaret Bridge
Researchers at the HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics and Eötvös Loránd University exchanged messages encrypted with a quantum-key-distribution key over the Meshtastic radio network, per the article on October 29, 2026. The messages crossed Margaret Bridge in Budapest, including "Physics enlightens the world!" and the reply "Indeed!". Two GPS trackers recorded message paths, showing some transmissions were relayed by other users' devices in the existing Budapest network. The researchers say the message contents stayed unreadable without the correct key, and that to their knowledge this is the first use of a QKD-generated key to protect Meshtastic messages anywhere.
Why it mattersMeshtastic is a free, open-source, mesh-networked system that uses LoRa radio, which the article says has a range of several tens of kilometers, comparable to fiber-optic QKD systems. The work is part of the QCIHungary initiative, which aims to build a quantum communications backbone, and the researchers frame it as a step toward extending quantum encryption to decentralized platforms.