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PR-Holonet: Disaster Area Emergency Comms

An easy to build, setup, and use emergency communicator for disaster-struck zones with no working power or comms infrastructure.

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PR-Holonet is a communications module that can be used by any device with WiFi and an internet browser (computers, cellphones, others) to send and receive SMS messages. It is a project inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Harvey in Houston, and Irma in Key West.

It is built to support response and relief efforts to natural disasters by:
- first responders
- community leaders
- volunteer organizations and efforts

It is built to:
- facilitate the organization of relief and response efforts after a natural disaster
- work in areas with no power or communications infrastructure
- be easy to use
- isolate the communications infrastructure from the area affected by the natural disaster
- be used anywhere in the country, potentially the world
- help prevent the loss of life due to lack of communications infrastructure, as seen after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico

PR-Holonet is a low-cost, open-source emergency communications gateway that is easy to build, configure and use. It is built for operation in disaster-struck zones or hard-to-reach areas with little or no existing power or communication infrastructure. PR-Holonet can work as a gateway to cellular SMS services or as its own stand-alone communications network and can be used anywhere in the world. It is a strictly modular platform requiring little or no technical knowledge to build, with easy to source commercially available components, and without requiring tools of any sort.

The goal of this project is to provide comms during the initial phase of disaster response to first responders and community leaders. Hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires, earthquakes, and snow storms are natural disaster challenges the country faces that can greatly impact existing comms infrastructure. PR-Holonet provides communications in disaster environments, where this lack of infrastructure can turn emergencies into a humanitarian crisis. It serves as a fast-response solution to enable planning and logistics during the assessment stage of disaster response while higher capacity systems are put in place.

PR-Holonet creates a reach-back mechanism to cellular SMS services by leveraging the IRIDIUM Communications Satellite Constellation. It is built under the premise of leveraging the widest set of available/existing equipment for use during emergency response. It will work with any computer or electronic device with Wi-Fi and an Internet browser to communicate over SMS messages, from anywhere in the world. It does not require any infrastructure other than a PR-Holonet unit, a 5V power source (Micro-USB, cellphone battery or solar), and a Wi-Fi device with an internet browser. PR-Holonet also serves as a stand-alone communications network, providing internal communication between units. The PR-Holonet backend is built using cloud-servers that provide the satellite gateway and process and route data. This isolates the communications services from the disaster zone in which it is operating.

PR-Holonet is completely modular and has been designed with the intent of facilitating its assembly within its deployment destination. It is meant to be built using simple instructions and little if any know-how or technical expertise. Assuming the backend is active and online, assembly by a non-technical person should take 10 minutes or less. All the building components were purposely selected from commercial off-the shelf and low-cost products in order to facilitate sourcing.

  • 1 × Raspberry Pi 3 The brains of the unit
  • 1 × RockBlock MK II The satellite "antenna"
  • 1 × USB Portable Battery Charger To power the system. The type you would use for your cellphone
  • 1 × Foldable Solar Charger To charge the portable battery
  • 1 × Female to Female Breadboard Jumpers To connect the RockBlock to the Raspberry Pi

View all 10 components

  • Hackaday Prize 2018 Cheatsheet

    inventive.prototypes10/22/2018 at 05:26 0 comments

    Hello there!

    If you are looking for information on PR-Holonet, you can use this cheatsheet as a way to get a sense of where everything is at on the project page. If you have any questions feel free to drop me a line in the comments section. If you are looking to provide feedback on bugs, feature requests, or suggestions, put an issue up on the GitHub repo. 


    Thanks!

    -- Inventive Prototypes

    Build a working prototype of PR-Holonet

    Done.

    Project Profile

  • Licencias

    inventive.prototypes10/17/2018 at 02:31 0 comments

    ¡Hola! Este blog será corto :)

    PR-Holonet es un proyecto open source, y su uso está regido por la licencia BSD-3. Mi meta para este proyecto es que cualquier persona que lo necesite pueda usarlo. Especialmente esas personas hábiles que lo quieran utilizar para ayudar a otros. Si eres uno de ell@s, ¡Adelante!

    Gracias a la realidad de los proyectos open-source, PR-Holonet puede hacer uso de herramientas desarrolladas por otros grandes innovadores de manera que no se ha tenido que empezar desde cero. Estos proyectos han hecho el proceso de desarrollo inmesurablemente más eficiente y rápido. A todo aquel que ayuda y aporta a proyectos open-source. ¡Gracias!

    Ahora bien, en el espíritu de respetar las licencias de todos los proyectos utilizados en PR-Holonet, he aquí una lista de los proyectos con sus correspondientes licencias:

    • Python
      1. setuptools
        1. MIT License
      2. Flask
        1. BSD
      3. flask_webpack
        1. GPL v3
      4. phonenumbers
        1. Apache 2.0
      5. pyserial
        1. BSD 
      6. RPI.GPIO
        1.  MIT
    • Node.js
      1. babel-core
        1. MIT
      2. twilio
        1. MIT
      3. babel-loader
        1. MIT
      4. bootstrap
        1. MIT
      5. css-loader
        1. MIT
      6. extract-text-webpack-plugin
        1. MIT
      7. file-loader
        1. MIT
      8. jquery
        1. MIT
      9. manifest-revision-webpack-plugin
        1. ISC
      10. node-normalize-scss
        1. MIT
      11. node-sass
        1. MIT
      12. sass-loader
        1. MIT
      13. scss-base
        1. MIT
      14. style-loader
        1. MIT
      15. sync-exec
        1. MIT
      16. url-loader
        1. MIT
      17. webpack
        1. MIT

    Gracias a todos por tomar un minuto de su tiempo para leer este artículo. Si tiene alguna otra pregunta, o quiere aprender más acerca de licencias open-source no dude en visitar (inglés) :

    https://choosealicense.com/

    ¡Hasta la próxima!

    Inventive.Prototypes

  • Licensing

    inventive.prototypes10/17/2018 at 02:22 0 comments

    Hi! This is going to be a short one :)

    For the purposes of use, PR-Holonet is a BSD-3 licensed open source project. My goal is for anyone who needs it to use it. Especially anyone who wants to help others with it. Go for it!

    Thanks to the awesomeness of open source, PR-Holonet is made possible by standing on the shoulders of giants. That is, other awesome projects that have enabled me to put this system together way faster than if I had had to build everything from scratch. Those projects, and their corresponding licenses, are: (Thank you all!!)

    • Python
      1. setuptools
        1. MIT License
      2. Flask
        1. BSD
      3. flask_webpack
        1. GPL v3
      4. phonenumbers
        1. Apache 2.0
      5. pyserial
        1. BSD 
      6. RPI.GPIO
        1.  MIT
    • Node.js
      1. babel-core
        1. MIT
      2. twilio
        1. MIT
      3. babel-loader
        1. MIT
      4. bootstrap
        1. MIT
      5. css-loader
        1. MIT
      6. extract-text-webpack-plugin
        1. MIT
      7. file-loader
        1. MIT
      8. jquery
        1. MIT
      9. manifest-revision-webpack-plugin
        1. ISC
      10. node-normalize-scss
        1. MIT
      11. node-sass
        1. MIT
      12. sass-loader
        1. MIT
      13. scss-base
        1. MIT
      14. style-loader
        1. MIT
      15. sync-exec
        1. MIT
      16. url-loader
        1. MIT
      17. webpack
        1. MIT

    Thank you all for taking a minute to check this post out. Thank you a TON to all the awesome developers who have made this project possible through their own open source contributions. 

    If you have additional questions about open source licensing, what it means, and what the options are, here is a link with good information:

    https://choosealicense.com/

    Until the next post!

    Inventive.Prototypes

  • Code is up!! - ¡El código esta disponible!

    inventive.prototypes08/13/2018 at 01:57 0 comments

    Hello Everyone!!

    I'm happy and excited to say that the code is finally up! Please treat this as a very early alpha. HOWEVER, if you are the type that:

    • Loves to jump in headfirst into new projects
    • Are opinionated and have respectful yet constructive criticism
    • Like to test things out hot off the oven

    Then you are so totally my type! 


    The goal for this project is that anyone who needs it can build it, so if you take the time to pull and build and notice a few things that, uhm, make your experience... --- let's say, less than ideal --- then throw me a line. Post an issue on the github page and I'll slowly but surely get to it. 

    If you are NOT the coding type, then I honestly TREASURE your opinion as well. Remember this project is meant to help in emergency situations with emphasis on the people willing and able to help. No requirements for tech geniuses here (although they are always welcome). 

    Until the next log, hack away!

    --Inventive.Prototypes

    PS: Although I would love to see this project help others I'll make it clear that I am not making any warranties or claims to fitness - implicit or otherwise - as to the use of this project. Please understand that if you decide to use it you do so at your own risk.

    --------------------------

    ¡Hola a todos!

    Me alegra poder anunciar que el código para el proyecto esta disponible. Por favor, trátenlo como una versión alfa muy temprana. PERO, si eres el tipo de persona que: 

    • Le encanta aprender de nuevos proyectos
    • Puedes brindar crítica respetuosa y constructiva
    • Le encanta trabajar con tecnologías y herramientas nuevas

    ¡Entonces eres mi tipo de persona!


    La meta principal de este proyecto es que cualquier persona que lo necesite lo pueda construir, así que si tomas de tu tiempo para montar el proyecto y encuentras el proceso, digamos, no muy claro entonces déjame una pregunta o un comentario por medio de los "issues" en github. 

    Si NO eres el tipo de persona que sabe programar, también atesoro tu opinión. Recuerda que este proyecto esta diseñado para ayudar en situaciones de emergencia, con enfásis en la gente disponible para ayudar, no en los genios técnicos ( Aunque si eres un@ eres siempre bienvenid@).

    Eso es todo por ahora, ¡hasta luego!

    -- Inventive.Prototypes

    PS: Aunque me encantaría saber que el proyecto es útil para otros quiero dejar claro que no doy garantía de uso o propósito - directa o indirectamente - relacionada al uso de este proyecto. Por favor entienda que si decide usarlo, lo hace a su propio riesgo.

  • Quick Preview!! - ¡Un pequeño avance! (Human Computer Interface Challenge)

    inventive.prototypes08/03/2018 at 05:59 0 comments

    Hello everyone!!

    I've been hard at work the last couple months working on the physical design of the system as well as polishing off a working version of the code in time for the Human Computer Interface Challenge.

    Besides being great for initial communications right after a natural disaster, PR-Holonet essentially turns ANY computer or cellphone with wifi and an internet browser into a satellite-based two-way communications system that can be used anywhere in the world. At that point, it's up to the user's imagination what it can be used for.

    I hope to post some more logs soon, as well as info on a really cool project I'm trying to get done with the system to help post-hurricane victims. For now enjoy the pictures of the system using a now waterproof cable gland pelican case system. 

    Stay tuned and thanks for the support! 

    ----------------------------

    ¡Hola a todos!

    He estado trabajando arduamente en estos últimos meses en el diseño físico del sistema. Además he estado trabajando en el código necesario para correr el sistema con miras a someterlo al Human Computer Interface Challenge. 

    Además de su misión principal, que es proveer comunicaciones luego de un desastre natural, PR-Holonet permite que cualquier computadora o celular con WiFi y un navegador de internet puedan ser utilizados como un sistema de comunicaciones bidireccional a través de satélite desde cualquier parte del mundo. Queda de parte de la imaginación del usuario la infinidad de usos que pueda tener esto. 

    Espero poder proveer más detalles concretos pronto, así como noticias de un proyecto que estoy tratando de desarrollar con el sistema para ayudar a víctimas de huracanes. Por ahora les dejo unas fotos recientes del sistema, en su nuevo estuche con una glándula para el cable de cargar el sistema. Todo a prueba de agua. 

    ¡Que tengan un buen día y gracias por el apoyo!

    -- Inventive.Prototypes

  • Quick Preview!! - ¡Un pequeño avance! (Human Computer Interface Challenge)

    inventive.prototypes08/03/2018 at 05:58 0 comments

    Hello everyone!!

    I've been hard at work the last couple months working on the physical design of the system as well as polishing off a working version of the code in time for the Human Computer Interface Challenge.

    Besides being great for initial communications right after a natural disaster, PR-Holonet essentially turns ANY computer or cellphone with wifi and an internet browser into a satellite-based two-way communications system that can be used anywhere in the world. At that point, its up to the users imagination what it can be used for.

    I hope to post some more posts soon, as well as info on a really cool project I'm trying to get done with the system to help post-hurricane victims. For now enjoy the pictures of the system using a now waterproof cable gland pelican case system. 

    Stay tuned and thanks for the support! 

    ----------------------------

    ¡Hola a todos!

    He estado trabajando arduamente en estos últimos meses en el diseño físico del sistema. Además he estado trabajando en el código necesario para correr el sistema con miras a someterlo al Human Computer Interface Challenge. 

    Además de su misión principal, que es proveer comunicaciones luego de un desastre natural, PR-Holonet permite que cualquier computadora o celular con WiFi y un navegador de internet puedan ser utilizados como un sistema de comunicaciones bidireccional a través de satélite que puede ser utilizado en cualquier parte del mundo. Queda de parte de la imaginación del usuario la infinidad de usos que pueda tener esto. 

    Espero poder proveer más detalles concretos pronto, así como noticias de un proyecto que estoy tratando de desarrollar con el sistema para ayudar a víctimas de huracanes. Por ahora les dejo unas fotos recientes del sistema, en su nuevo estuche con una glándula para el cable de cargar el sistema. Todo a prueba de agua. 

    Que tengan un buen día y gracias por el apoyo!

    -- Inventive.Prototypes

  • System Design: Playing with numbers (Costs)

    inventive.prototypes04/29/2018 at 19:26 0 comments

    Hello! Thanks for taking the time to visit the project! 

    This post will explain all costs associated with assembling a PR-Holonet unit, activating it, and operating it. In the ballpark of things, the cost of building a PR-Holonet system as presented in this post will vary from $420 to $600 depending on your final configuration. The differences only affect the capacity of the system to operate in the absence of enough sunlight; as well as the capacity to power/recharge other equipment or the ability to recharge and keep the system operational at the same time. It does not affect the core functionality of sending and receiving messages. It also bears mentioning that I will not be covering shipping costs or taxes. The system has been designed to minimize the difficulty of sourcing the components needed as well as to be used pretty much anywhere; but that also means that I can't, in good faith, give good numbers on shipping costs or taxes to cover all scenarios for anyone to build it.

    All cost estimates provided in this post will be in US dollars. Please convert as necessary if you are living in another country. 

    This log is long, and it contains a lot of information. I may break it up later in the future. For now, grab a snack, turn some music on, and enjoy.

    Thank you!


    Assembly Costs

    The two key components of this system, the Raspberry Pi 3 B and the Rockblock MK II, should be available at fixed pricing.

    The rest of the costs may vary depending on sourcing or capacity. The list of items is as follows:

    • A portable cellphone battery charger
    • A foldable solar cell charger
    • A non-metallic project box (ideally water-proof)
    • A microSD memory card
    • Female to female jumper cables
    • Spare micro USB cables

    PR-Holonet is meant to be used in emergency and technology-austere environments. For this reason, the actual list of parts has been put together to enable a system that can:

    • Work on its own
    • Power, enable, or leverage other tech equipment that can be of use to help relief efforts

    Following is a list of the actual parts and costs being used to build the system. For a budget version of the system, see the end of the post.

    Total Kit Cost: $600

    System Core

    The core is made up of the Pi, Rockblock, female to female jumper wires, microUSB cables, and microSD card.

    Part NameDescriptionCost ($)Source
    Raspberry Pi 3 BThe brains of the operation$35.00Adafruit
    RockBlock MK IIIridium Short Burst Data
    transceiver
    $249.50Sparkfun
    Samsung EVO microSD cardCapacity
    - 64GB
    Class 10 UHS 3
    Speed
    - Write: 60Mbps
    - Read: 90Mbps

    $19.99Amazon
    Female to Female Jumper Wires- 20-pack tape
    - 6 inches each
    - .1" pitch
    $1.95Sparkfun
    Anker Micro USB CablesTwo microUSB cables that can be
    used to power the Pi or
    charge the battery
    $9.99Amazon

    Project Case

    To allow the project to be weather resistant, I've selected a dust-proof, water resistant project box. Down the road I'd like to really test out how hot the system gets and actually test its water-proof worthiness, for now the current case gets the job done.

    Part NameDescription...
    Read more »

  • Cultivemos la Esperanza

    inventive.prototypes04/22/2018 at 23:21 0 comments

    Pasó un mes y medio antes de poder saber algo de papi. Pasaron 2.5 meses antes de poder escucharlo. En esos meses descubrí la diferencia entre no poder hablar con mi familia por no tener tiempo  y no poder hablar con mi familia porque no habían maneras disponibles y sin saber cuándo o cómo podría o si sería posible. 

    Quiero que este proyecto se enfoque en cómo ayudar a la gente que lo necesite. Que pueda mejorar basado en las experiencias de la gente que ayuda. El enfoque de los escritos para este proyecto será acerca de los aspectos técnicos de como construir y utilizar PR-Holonet. Pero en éste trataré de explicar el por qué de este proyecto. 

    Este escrito NO será técnico, y todo aquel interesado sólo en esa información puede pasarlo por alto. 

    Al criarse con huracanes, uno aprende a tenerles respeto. No le deseo un huracán a nadie. 

    Durante el paso del huracán Irma, ayudé a papi a preparar la casa. El tuvo que viajar a Puerto Rico a ayudar a mi abuela y tía, y yo me quedé con mis hermanas. Fue una situación tensa e intensa, pero gracias a Dios todo salió bien. El huracán no pasó directamente por Puerto Rico y mi familia lo sobrepasó bien. Pero los huracanes no son sistemas que afecten sólo a unos pocos, y Key West no tuvo tanta suerte. Después de Irma, pensé que ese era el fin de la temporada, que las probabilidades de otro huracán fuerte eran pocas. Después de todo, ese era el segundo huracán fuerte de la temporada luego de Harvey en Houston. 

    Una semana después apareció María. Puerto Rico suele tener suerte al tratarse de huracanes fuertes. Por lo general tienden a pasar suficientemente altos o bajos como para no impactar la Isla directamente. Pero María me llenó de un terror que surge de la impotencia ante la naturaleza... Una semana luego de ver cómo Irma transformó Miami en una nueva pequeña Venecia, habíase aquí un huracán categoría 5 con intención de visitar directamente a Puerto Rico. Una semana y media después de Irma, María barrió la Isla...

    No sé si pueda explicar en plenitud lo que uno siente ante una situación así. En general, cuando ocurren situaciones malas en Puerto Rico uno se queja. Pero luego que lo procesa es manos a la obra y a trabajar porque al final del día nadie hace las cosas por uno. Somos responsables de moldear el futuro con nuestras manos. Luego de María, tenía cierta esperanza de empezar a escuchar la gente quejándose. La tiraera de culpa de un bando a otro que, aunque no es ideal ni productiva, tiende a señalar que la Isla se esta movilizando a reestablecer la normalidad. 

    Los Puertorriqueños somos alborotosos y felices. Hablamos "hasta por los codos". A veces hablamos un tanto de más, jeje, pero así somos. Mi esperanza era escuchar a la gente, aún si era quejándose. Porque significa que las cosas están malas, pero nunca tan malas como para no sacar el tiempo para quejarse. Como decimos en Puerto Rico, "pudo haber sido peor", esa era la esperanza mía para el mejor escenario posible ante el impacto de este huracán. 

    Sin embargo, después de María... Nada. 1.5 meses de nada. Un ensordecedor, aterrorizante, vacío lleno de nada... De la misma manera que uno reconoce la seriedad de una conversación con una pareja, o amigo, o familiar por la abundancia con la que se comparte el silencio; así mismo fueron desconectadas de el resto del mundo 3.4 millones de voces. Durante esa primera semana luego de María no había energía eléctrica, ni agua potable, ni comunicaciones,...

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  • Why build hope...?

    inventive.prototypes04/20/2018 at 03:41 0 comments

    It took 1.5 months to learn anything about my dad. It took 2.5 months to finally hear him live over the phone. There is a difference between not having the chance to call your family, and not being able to and not knowing if you will be able to. 

    I want this project to focus on the good it is able to do. I want this project to grow on the experiences of how it gets to help people. I will focus all other posts on the system, how it works and how to use it. But in this one post I'll try to explain why I'm doing it. 

    This post will not be technical, and you are definitely welcome to skip it.

    Growing up with hurricanes has taught me to be respectful of them. They are not an experience I wish on anyone. 

    I helped my dad during hurricane Irma, he had to travel to Puerto Rico and I helped with his house stateside. It was a tense situation to be in. Hurricanes are not trivial events. We prepared both houses, him in Puerto Rico with my grandmother and aunt and me with my sisters. Thankfully our family was blessed. Irma for the most part missed Puerto Rico. Key West was not so lucky. After Irma, I thought that had been it. That was the second big one for the season, Harvey had hit Houston a few days before. I thought, "Well 2 in one season should be it for the year".

    A week later Maria shows up. Puerto Rico is lucky in the sense that more often than not the really bad hurricanes seem to miss the island by going a bit too high or too low for a direct hit. But Maria filled me with dread. A week after watching how Irma created a temporary Venice in Miami, here was a Cat 5 hurricane, getting ready to run straight through Puerto Rico. A week and a half after Irma barely missed Puerto Rico, the Island was swept.

    I do not know that I can explain what it felt like. When something bad happens in Puerto Rico, you complain, loudly more often than not. Then you roll your sleeves up and get to work fixing it because at the end of the day, "no one will do stuff for you". You have to own your stuff. After Maria I hoped to hear that complaining, the usual blames being thrown, the ones that sadly are the indicatives of efforts being put together to fix the Island up as well as possible again. 

    Puerto Ricans are loud. And happy. We talk a lot. Sometimes more than we should, heh. I was hoping to hear that loudness, even if it was just complaining. It means things are bad, but never so bad you don't have the time to complain. As we say in Puerto Rico, "it could have been worse". I wished that to be the best case scenario.

    After Maria though... Nothing. 1.5 months of nothing. Deafening. Exasperating. Nothingness. The same way one recognizes the seriousness of a conversation with a family member, or a partner, or a friend by the abundance of words not being said, this was 3.4 million people worth of muted voices. During the first week, there was no power, no potable water, no communication, no gas/petrol infrastructure, no roads, no grocery stores, and for a lot of people no home. And then for the next one, and the next one, and the next... 6 months out the electrical grid is still not stable or fully operational. I understand that there are multiple factors that led to this point. But the fact that this is even a thing, that recovery has not been possible as the next hurricane season comes up, speaks volumes about the situation, its magnitude and scale. I do not mean to trivialize the work of the first responders, government officials, and volunteers who have genuinely done their utmost to help. To those who have done everything within their purview. Thank you. But this was and is a very daunting situation, of humanitarian crisis scale even. ...

    Read more »

  • System Design: An initial dive in

    inventive.prototypes04/18/2018 at 04:06 0 comments

    Hardware Communication Gateway

    PR-Holonet consists of 2 parts:

    • The hardware communication gateway
    • The cloud backend

    Both systems are meant to be as low cost and modular as possible. The full hardware communications unit is composed of :

    • Raspberry Pi 3 unit ($35)
    • Rockblock MK II Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) modem ( ~$250)
    • Cellphone Battery Charger ($170 or less, depends on what you get)
    • Foldable Solar Charger ($60 to $90, depends on what you get)
    • A waterproof case ( ~$20)
    • 1 micro usb cable ( < $4)
    • 6 female to female breadboard jumpers (< $1)
    • The charging cable for your portable battery ( comes with battery)

    Raspberry Pi 3 and Rockblock MK II

    36W 18V solar charger

    You get 2 USB 2.0 charging ports (5V/2.4A) and one 18V/1.5A barrel port

    40Ah Lithium battery. Can power a laptop. Also has a simple but useful LED "flashlight"

    Nice waterproof box large enough for everything

    At its most basic setup, PR-Holonet is composed of the Raspberry Pi 3 and the Rockblock. The Pi runs a Flask web server that serves as the interface for the user. It is also responsible for generating the WiFi access point that users will connect to. The Pi is used to power the Rockblock MK II, which is responsible for beaming the messages up to the Iridium satellite constellation. The Rockblock talks to the Pi over serial and can be connected by hand to the Pi.

    Connecting the Rockblock

    Connecting the Pi

    On a 26.8AH lithium battery, PR-Holonet can be on for a couple days (3 to 4 so far in my experience, although I have yet to do a well-documented test). Depending on needs, you can find upwards of 50Ah batteries which can also be used to power and recharge a full laptop. In my current iteration I am using a 40 Ah battery. When coupled together with a foldable solar charger, the system can effectively be on 24/7. What’s more, given that PR-Holonet consumes little power, the system can generate enough power for itself and for devices to connect to it. Ideally, you’ll want to use at least a 36W portable solar charger. It is small enough to be portable, but generates enough power to be useful, especially dealing with such a big battery. Between the solar charger and the battery, the system should be able to work through the night and a couple rainy days. It should also be able to charge a cellphone or laptop if needed.

    In terms of setup, if you have a working backend system and a pre-made micro-sd card with the OS and PR-Holonet software, configuration is a matter of

    • Putting the microSD card on the Pi
    • Connecting 6 jumper cables (power, ground, tx, rx, ringer, ground) (yes, 2 grounds :) )
    • Plug the battery into the Pi
    • Count to 30
    • You’re up!

    You should see your WiFi access point pop up on your device. And that is it, PR-Holonet is running and ready to go!


    Using PR-Holonet
    Using PR-Holonet


    “You keep talking about the backend, but WHAT IS IT?”

    You ask. Well, good question!

    Cloud Services Backend 

    Cloud Services Backend
    Cloud Services Backend

    The backend consists of three components:

    • The Rockblock gateway
    • An Amazon AWS setup
    • Twilio

    The Rockblock gateway refers to the Rock7 Core services. Rockblock being the Iridium antenna, Rock7 the company, and Core being their management portal. You’ll need to purchase credits (50 bytes = 1 credit) as well as pay the monthly activation fee ( ~$15).

    From amazon you’ll need a free account to use the following services:

    • CloudFormation
    • Lambda
    • Amazon S3

    Finally you’ll need a phone number from Twilio that can be used for text messages. You’ll want...

    Read more »

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J. Courtney wrote 11/14/2018 at 19:02 point

I live in Paradise,California the site of the deadliest fire in Californias history.  Our home was destroyed, we barely escaped because of untimely notification,  this system could be of use in situations where populations are scattered amongst peaks, canyons, etc.. where conventional communication may have already been compromised. Keep up this good work and thank you.

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Jan wrote 11/14/2018 at 19:57 point

Those hell-fires are all over the news world-wide. Best of luck to you guys, hope you can rebuild (somewhere else?!) Those fires get worse every year, abandon that place ):

Stay safe!!! Jan

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inventive.prototypes wrote 11/14/2018 at 20:44 point

Hey @J. Courtney  really sorry to hear about your home. I wish you and your family the best. I built this project specifically for these types of problems to give people a way to deal with them. I am not sure what your current situation or bandwidth is, but if you have the time, the will, and the resources to build one I can help out with any questions you may have.

Better yet, if you know of schools, clubs, hackerspaces, or even a couple families that want to prepare themselves or help the community, put them in touch with this project and I'll help where I can.

Remember that the comms and the system still have a ways to go to secure the comms, but I'm hopeful that during situations like this it can definitely be helpful.

Wish you the best,

inventive.prototypes

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Bhavesh Kakwani wrote 05/08/2018 at 20:21 point

Really cool! I didn't know that the Iridium constellation was so accessible to the maker community. Thanks for sharing your progress and I hope your project goes very well.

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inventive.prototypes wrote 05/09/2018 at 16:55 point

It is! Thanks and I'll share more soon!

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cuibonobo wrote 04/16/2018 at 18:54 point

I'm not clear on how the user-facing website should work. How will folks access the site if DNS doesn't work? Does the interface verify your phone number somehow before letting you read messages? What abuse-prevention mechanisms are in place to prevent spam?

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inventive.prototypes wrote 04/16/2018 at 22:08 point

Awesome questions and thank you!!

It will have a captive portal-like setup. Essentially any address you try to write in will be masked and re-routed into the self-hosted website. Ideally, this will be a secondary mechanism to an actual URL people should expect to use.

In terms of phone number verification. As it stands now, think of PR-Holonet as a public bulletin board. You do NOT want to post credit card numbers or sensitive information if the unit being used is not yours. This is not a secure system in its current implementation. The main gap this aims to fill is enabling communications in an environment completely void of it. 

Here's an example. When the distribution of food and help was being organized in PR, truck drivers were asked to leave their name and number and expect to be called back once the agencies in charge had a plan in place. But a lot of the drivers could not do this to a practical effect, because there was no cell coverage in the areas they lived or operated in (or more than 90% of the island for that matter). PR-Holonet or something like it could have helped in this situation. 

In terms of abuse prevention, another great question. At this moment there is no security embedded in it. I just haven't had the time to work on it. As it stands right now, the prototype provides emergency, non-private, communication in a public bulletin board manner. This is why at least initially, my goal would be for volunteer organizations, or community leaders to use it. Because setting up a unit and opening it to public at large is doable, but requires more work and planning. And also more time :)

Abuse prevention, user authentication mechanisms, message privacy protection - these are all things I have in mind and hope to work with. But in an extreme case, just being able to communicate is the important first need. 

Thank you for your great questions, and thank you for your support!

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cuibonobo wrote 04/20/2018 at 16:06 point

Thanks for your response and the technical dive-in you posted a few days ago. I'm very familiar with Flask (I use it extensively for work), so I'd be very interested in helping out in any way I can. I also noticed that your GitHub repo doesn't have any code in it yet. If you need a private git repository to collaborate while you get your code ready, check my profile for contact info and hit me up.

I do understand that in emergency situations we often give privacy/security less importance. I guess what made me think of that stuff is that since your project uses services that require a subscription + messaging fees, it can become a liability to the person that chooses to run this in an emergency situation... During María I became extremely frustrated with the disinformation being disseminated by people acting in bad faith. I believe in the general goodness of people, but some sort of system of accountability should be put in place also.

Anyway, I'd be happy to help with this if you need a collaborator!

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inventive.prototypes wrote 04/28/2018 at 16:03 point

No problem at all, I'll keep it in mind and thanks for the offer! 

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sashascreativeoutlet wrote 04/16/2018 at 11:53 point

Keep it up!

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