HaLow Emergency WiFi Network

Projects WLPC Competition
1

The following is from a grant application I am submitting to use HaLowLink-1 as communication system in an area without cell service. I look forward to feedback, it will only make the system better!

Backgound:
I am part of an off-grid island community of about 70 lots. Over the past decade we’ve made investments to enhance its readiness for medical and wildfire emergencies. However, roughly 35 lots at one end of the community have inconsistent or no cellular coverage. This area has critical infrastructure including the dock (used for emergency marine evacuations), emergency helipad (an open field), first-aid shed (including an AED), community water tanks for fires, and multiple firefighting equipment sheds (Figure 1). During urgent and emergent events, community members with cellular data coordinate via WhatsApp chat.

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Figure 1: Map of current cellular “dead zones” & community resource locations

The Solution
To provide coverage to dead-zones, I am proposing deploying 5-10 HaLowLink 1 access points over approx. 35 acres to create a dedicated, low-cost emergency communications network. By using strategically placed 900MHz HaLow WiFi bridges which have 2.4GHz access points, residents will have access to reliable real-time text-based communication on personal cell phones in key locations. Pending a grant application (June 2025 if successful) we will be able to purchase 5 HaLowLink-1 for “Phase 1”. In Phase 2 (2026?), I hope to add another 5 HaLowLink-1 (Figure 2).

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Figure 2: Proposed network nodes & coverage

If successful in our grant application, I plan to provide community outreach and technical and non-technical documentation. Here in British Columbia, affordable wide-area coverage with the HaLowLink-1 is perfect to cover rural properties, dense forested areas, and challenging topography. Enhanced connectivity will vastly improve emergency response strategy, allowing faster coordination during critical events, smarter safety equipment deployment, and build a more resilient community

Why HaLowLink-1?

  • Wide coverage (1km) - off grid = very little RF interference!
  • Usable data rates (15–32 Mbps) with existing communication tools (cell phones, WiFi Calling & WhatsApp)
  • Ultra low power (2.5W) compared to conventional WiFi (20–55W) reduces costs from $2,500 to $150 per node largely due to a smaller power system required.
  • non-line-of-sight (nLOS) & mesh networking (802.11s) WiFi protocol; enables deeper penetration around topography, dense foliage, and buildings
  • Using the HaLow Link 1 platform, I will save approx. $50,000 in this deployment.

At locations within the community, I plan to use the following solar, battery and networking hardware: 30W solar pannel, 20,000mAh battery bank, HaLowLink-1.

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Figures have been modified to protect privacy.

Questions I have or be testing:

  1. How will the mesh (802.11s) function in this environment? Should I explore B.A.T.M.A.N. for this deployment.
  2. Can multiple back-haul (there’s internet in some spots of the development) for a dual-WAN setup for added redundancy.
  3. Usage tracking; will be monitoring the network with a Raspberry Pi for statistics and some basic network control.
  4. How portable is the HaLowLink-1 unit? Can it be used portably in a vehicle within the 900MHz coverage zone created by the other units?
  5. What would you like me to test (I’m open to tinkering!)?
5 Likes
2

Interesting idea but I cant get the Halowlink 1 units to stay connected for long so farin my usage the client needs power cycled approx. every hour for the client to reconnect to the base. This makes them pretty well useless for what you are trying to do.

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Hi dblair22,
This is such a GREAT use case for Wi-Fi HaLow and obviously so important for your local community. Given this, I’ll be delighted to ship across a couple of Halowlink 1 devices to get you started with your phase 1 deployment.
Can you send me an email to andy.mcfarlane@morsemicro.com with your shipping details and arrange to get them across to you?
Regards,
Andy Mc

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Packages arrived, massive thank you Andy for helping support this initiative. As I test the hardware and deployment, I’ll post updates.

My current test plans are:

  • Device power consumption (and solar sizing)
  • LAN (2.4Ghz WiFi Range)
  • HaLow (900Mhz Range) and Site Mapping of signal strength.
  • Comparison of HalowLink1 & Heltec HD-HT01 ( range, performance, OpenWRT UI)
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Beauty. Looking forward to hearing.

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I’m enjoying the addition of “Range Test” (Advanced Config->Services-> Range Test).
All data transmission and the map feature are working correctly.

  • The “Signal Strength (dBm) = 0” Regardless of the actual signal strength between the AP and EXT (devices are currently side-by side) .
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  • Looking in Status-> Channel Analysis - Radio1 = -256 dBm
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7

“devices are currently side-by side”

They can be “too close”. If you move the station ~2 meters away does it start to report a sensible RSSI?

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Perfectly :laughing: -55dBm at 10m.
I’ll blame that on the downfalls of configuring in a apartment.

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9

This is a really cool project. Any updates?

10

Thanks for checking in on the progress of our mesh emergency network deployment. It’s been an interesting learning experience so far!

My initial setup (Fig. 2) with a single access point and 4 units in mesh mode didn’t yield the coverage we anticipated – it was about 25% less than our initial projections. I’ve been using 4Mhz channels,; was finding that at 2Mhz data rate wasn’t sufficient. I suspect it’s devices trying to update everything (not just WhatsApp). I’m going to add a PiHole or adblock-lean to address bandwidth.

I think I’ve identified a couple of likely reasons for this: the topography and tree density in the area were higher than I originally accounted for, and the HalowLink1 antenna was deployed at approximately 3 meters, rather than the intended 5 meters.

I suspect the link between the original central internet backbone and the two APs on the left of the diagram wasn’t strong enough (denoted by red dashed line in figure below). I’ve added a internet backhaul at two locations (red towers in the diagram below). To mitigate these challenges and improve efficiency, I’ve re-configured the entire network. It’s now two distinct networks, with one base station providing internet backhaul to service two separate sheds.

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Figure 3:

The community is currently in the process of thoroughly proving this new system configuration. My aim is to have a fully validated and proven system with the current hardware before moving forward with seeking funding for permanent installations. As soon as we have a more refined and optimized final system, I’ll be sure to update the node design (power requirement and winter performance) documentation and share it with you. Likely sealed led acid batteries due to the sub-zero temperatures we get and better 30W solar panels.

4 Likes
11

Hi,

Now that summer in BC is at an end, have you made any progress on this? I’m interested in hearing what setup changes you might have made in the past few months. I’m keen to set up a similar arrangement here in Australia, not as a fixed installation but as a so-called MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Network) for deployment when flood or bushfire hits small communities.

Thanks,

Mark

12

Hello all,

I found this chat accidentally but it does seem to deal with a subject I am looking into. I need some help finding a tech that only requires what is usually in your pocket to use in an emergency or disaster. This looks like it could be an answer. - I am looking for a way to provide emergency / disaster connectivity to folks who are the resident population and just need to say “I’m Ok - this is a temporary way for you to contact me”. I am NOT a tech guy!!! I have checked around and there are plenty of costly and volunteer groups providing assistance to the responders but not so for the folks who are on the effect side of these situations. From what I gather from internet searches bandwidth is THE limiting factor followed by availability. So priority is text, followed by voice, and lastly some sort of data (like some sort of teletype or captioned messaging).

So - first - Am I starting off with a set of valid assumptions? Please reply if you have useful input - I need all the help I can get - located in Central Va. USA Thanks

13

I am figuring this out as I go.

I am looking for someone who has information about a working configuration useing HaLowLink 2 WIFI that supports mesh and access. I would like to use either a long range mesh to reach outside the outage area or a starlink to allow text and voice for the victims in the outage…

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Sorry @Central_Va I missed your earlier post a couple of weeks back!

The HaLowLink2 should have options in the configuration wizard to configure as a mesh. We have an application note for configuring 802.11s mesh which will help you get started. https://www.morsemicro.com/resources/appnotes/MM_APPNOTE-32_How_to_configure_802.11s_Mesh.pdf

Where you could replace the “mobile phone running uplink hotspot” with a starlink connection instead.

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Thank you, I’ll check this out

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Ok, I did a brief look thru and I thank you for posting this - it looks very useful.

Now - Remembering that I am NOT a tech guy and am only recently becoming acquainted with these types of issues —

Having looked at WIFI specs and finding that 2.4 GHz is the only thing avaliable to an end user (victim of a disaster / emergency) … If I wanted to cover say a 1 block area of a small town in an outage (no power or comms) then I would have to provide 1 device for every 100’ of space and an uplink to the internet so folks could communicate to the outside world - and I would need some sort of power - so battery, solar, generator … (Am I right about this? )

I ask all these basic questions because I have some personal experience with being in a disaster area… I was at the end of the infrastructure line (end of the power grid) when Isabel hit in 2003. No power for 19 days due to distribution out in multiple segments ahead of our small area. I had to drive 3 hours to find a 5K generator that I used to death until the power came back on.

If it is easier to communicate directly you can email me. ( I am not sure if that is Ok but if it is - then I will provide an address),

Waiting to hear back

17

While I am waiting for replies, I have a few other questions…

Assuming a single internet connection and a single HaLowLink 2 attached via ethernet, how many “downstream” (is that the correct term?) layers are practical? Is there a limit to how many HaLowLink 2s can be supported by each device?

I assume there is some kind of practical limit that can be supported on the 2.4 GHz WIFI… Voice would be a smaller number of devices than text because voice is active communication and text is not…

I didn’t see any power over ethernet mentioned so I may have missed it or it is not available…

So I have questions in 3 areas - 1 - the 900MHz device to device network and 2 - the 2.4 GHz service the devices provide and 3 Power over ethernet…

Thanks

18

Hey @Central_Va

Yes this sounds accurate. How you design the network as a whole will depend on a number of factors such as building penetration (remember 2.4GHz doesn’t penetrate as well), and number of expected clients per block.

And yes, battery and some sort of generator would be required to power the devices. As the HaLowLink2 is designed as an Access Point/Gateway it is a bit more power hungry. On average it should consume < 3w but I would recommend sizing for the recommended supply input - which is 10W, or higher…

The forum is easier for us if you’re happy to keep the conversation here.

This is going to depend on your expected traffic load and your topology. With a mesh (802.11s) topology your throughput will halve every hop. Recommended limit of hops is 4, with 10 peers per node in the mesh.

For the 2.4GHz AP, I don’t have the maximum number of clients on hand. There are theoretical limits, but as you say there are generally much more conservative practical limits, which from memory a low-medium traffic profile should function as expected with ~32 clients (don’t quote me here, I’m checking with the team to see if we have any concrete test data I can share).

If you’re expecting to do video I’d reduce this substantially. It will also depend on where the devices are relative to each other. A device further away will operate at a lower rate, and therefore occupy more airtime, which limits airtime access for other devices.

Correct, no PoE on these devices. There are splitters that should work well, something like this: DSLRKIT Gigabit USB Type C Active PoE Splitter 48V to 5V IEEE802.3af Power Over Ethernet for Raspberry Pi 4 4B : Amazon.com.au: Electronics, they should give you ~15W of power budget which is well more than enough.

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Arien - Thank you, I’m learning a lot here and you are providing some really good points of contact for equipment. I guess my next step is to get a couple of devices and start testing a basic 2 or 3 node network. Is there a US distributor? (I did a quick search and didn’t get any hits).

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HaLowLinks are available on DigiKey who are US based, though they’re already out of stock of HaLowLink2s

You could give a HaLowLink1 a go. Only difference is that it uses our first generation chip, but has the benefit of all the mesh features being more mature.