When a disaster knocks out cell towers and wifi, these cheap pocket radios keep working. They pass your texts and location from one device to the next until they reach rescuers.

In disaster zones, communication often fails first. We wanted to create a system that doesn’t rely on cell towers or the internet, something people and rescue teams could still use to coordinate when everything else goes down. ResQMe is a mesh network built on ESP32 devices. Each node can send and relay messages through others, forming a local communication web that works even without infrastructure. The master node can host a Wi-Fi access point with a simple webpage for users to send messages or mark their status. We used ESP32 boards running a PainlessMesh network for communication. The master node manages message distribution and can log activity over serial for cloud mirroring. Each device can also run in AP mode for local access.