Maker Faire Bay Area 2023
A LoRa-based Neighborhood Emergency Communications System
Home: California, United States
Sudden events, such as wildfires or earthquakes inevitably lead to outages in electric power, cell service, VOIP telephones, etc. So when the 'big on comes', how will your family be informed to prepare to evacuate or be able to send a call for emergency help? This project comprises a series of outdoor solar powered repeaters and in-home battery-backed up small devices with touch screen color display to receive and send short messages (think SMS) to neighbors and first responders. LoRa is used as the radio communications link among as many as 255 stations. Network management facilities enable administrators to see who is connected (or not), check battery voltages, ambient temperature, etc. as well as performing remote OTA software updates to those devices that also are WiFi connected.
Additional Project Photos
Maker
Harry Saal
Fully retired former high tech executive with lots of network experience (50 years worth!)
What Inspired You to Make This?
Recent wildfires, such as the 2023 Maui disaster, prove the need to have a community emergency communications network which will function reliably and autonomously. In 2017, our Sonoma County home was surrounded by wildfires that resulted from sparks from PG&E power lines. Modern electronics now enables the deployment of low cost robust networked devices that do not rely upon utility power (using batteries or solar), WiFi or cell towers. Come see a working prototype of such a system, functioning at the Maker Faire.
