SSU Engineering Students Develop EmergiNet: An Emergency Messaging Network
When wildfires or power shutoffs strike California, thousands of residents can suddenly lose access to emergency alerts as cellular networks fail. During the 2017 North Bay wildfires, for example, more than 85,000 wireless and 160,000 wired customers lost service, and in the 2019 Kincade Fire, over 200 cell towers went offline across Sonoma County. These disruptions highlight the urgent need for a decentralized, low-power communication system that can keep communities connected when traditional networks collapse.
To meet this challenge, Sonoma State University engineering students are developing EmergiNet, a portable LoRa-based mesh communication platform designed to deliver emergency messages during disasters. Each EmergiNet node is a lightweight, battery-powered device that can forward encrypted alerts over long distances using low-power LoRa radios. By linking multiple nodes together in a mesh, the system can cover entire neighborhoods, relaying critical information across tens of miles without relying on the electrical grid.
The team is also incorporating airborne relays into the system. Drones equipped with LoRa repeaters can be deployed when disaster conditions interrupt ground connections, ensuring that emergency messages from authorities continue to reach otherwise isolated households. This hybrid ground-air architecture makes EmergiNet resilient, energy-efficient, and adaptable to real-world challenges.
The project is led by SSU engineering students Jacob Jaffe and Brandon McCulloch, with support from the Center for Environmental Inquiry (CEI) at SSU. Chris Halle, Program Development Lead at CEI, emphasized the importance of field deployment: "We see tremendous potential for EmergiNet to be tested right here in nearby communities. It’s a great concept that can be very useful during emergencies."
Kerry Wininger, Director of SSU’s Center for Environmental Inquiry, highlighted the broader significance of the project: “EmergiNet is a wonderful example of how SSU students are blending innovation with community resilience. Projects like this not only prepare students for the future, but also strengthen our ability as a region to respond to environmental challenges together.”
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