After adding a couple last features to the simulator (manual packet creation, node on/off, etc.) I have decided that it is done (for now) and that I need to move on to hardware implementation. I'm working though the RF24Mesh, RF24Ethernet, RF24Gateway, RF24Network, and RF24 Arduino libraries. They're really complicated. They total several thousand lines of C++. The RF24Mesh (and maybe the Ethernet one) were done by TMRh20. He has done a lot of hard work, and you should check it out.

The Plan:

1. Get the examples going from RF24Mesh and RF24Gateway libraries
2. Ping nodes by IP via Raspberry Pi
   1. Quick side note: The Raspberry Pi is connected to its own NRF24L01 module and it can act as a gateway to connect the mesh network together with IP addresses and also route them out to the LAN. Pretty cool.
3. Ping the nodes by IP via something else on the LAN
4. Start to dig into the RF24Network library and replace the network mapping algorithm with my own
5. That should pretty much take the rest of my life...I'd better not add a 5th step...

And you thought I didn't have a plan!