Description
Our project builds a mesh network in national parks that is self-powered, unintrusive, and available for anyone with a modern mobile phone. This network allows those in life-threatening situations to contact emergency services and transmit their location. The network is sustained by nodes that are planted onto trees and communicate with each other using low energy communication protocols. A lost hiker simply needs to have their phone ping a nearby node, which will then transmit their message between nodes until one close enough to a major network is reached. Each node is powered by an on-device solar panel, which means that it is self-sustaining. It is also small in size (5x5 inches), meaning it is easily hidden on trees, and does not spoil the landscape for any onlooker.