A blueprint for an experimental low-power communications device (wireless mote) suitable for ad-hoc and networking applications is presented. The proposed device implements a random access packet-based communications protocol that exploits a special packet structure which is composed of separate header and payload portions. To enable robust packet detection, the headers consist of a preassigned spreading sequence which acts as a system access “key”. The payload portion, on the other hand, utilizes a unique, packet-specific long spreading sequence to enable multi-packet reception (MPR), among other features.