Thanks for the thoughtful reply. A long time ago there was a paper published, by MIT I think showing a similar setup to use WiFi as a surveillance tool for motion detection through walls. It was interesting at the time and something that I have thought about quite a bit over the years without ever actually doing anything myself. I think at heart I have been waiting for someone like yourself to make it all easy enough that someone like myself, who already has too many things on their plate, can jump in and begin using it without having to solve all the initial issues. Thanks for doing this work.

For my own use case as simple mesh array that would alert me to movement within certain parts of the property that I have set aside as garden or orchard plots would really be useful. I have lost numerous fruit trees to deer, especially in winter cold spells and over time learned that the only effective method of guaranteeing plant survival over winter is area denial. I accomplished this over the last couple of years using deer fencing products to establish areas where large animals have no access. In the process, I also found a use case for a security camera to monitor an area to see which animals regularly passed by or through.

Over a period of years I have seen lots of animal tracks but direct sightings have been rare. Using the security camera as a game camera has restored my confidence in animal ID from tracks alone since I have managed to capture still photos and video of the animals that I was pretty sure were visiting my place to validate what I believed based on the tracks alone. I hunted and trapped when I was a kid into high school so it is good to see that, though I have not needed them and have rarely used them, I have not totally lost those skills in the ensuing 40+ years.

I can see an array like this as quite useful in a garden space for identifying which plants need protection from squirrels, opossums, raccoons, etc and where the feral cats are squatting so that I don't inadvertently dredge up something unwholesome while working the soil. My cameras have demonstrated that they can detect and alert to things as small as a wasp or beetle moving across the FoV so if I can set something up to track the path of grasshoppers through the garden then I can potentially see where they are laying eggs cases and disrupt that soil before they can hatch next season.

This is all really interesting stuff. I look forward to joining the Discord group and to picking up a few ESPs for testing.

Sorry for the wall of text.