I put up a couple solar MT routers on local peaks and that can connect miles of the CDT and remote wilderness to thousands of homes and businesses in a roughly 10 mile radius. It even can track my dog when I put a 2oz tracker mode on his harness. It's generally about 90% reliable even as the SNR drops below zero which is pretty incredible for <1watt radio. A stretch goal is to make WiFi hotspots along trails for people to check weather or emergency advisories with their phone, even text police dispatch. I doubt the most vulnerable (clueless) backcountry users will typically be prepared with sat comms.
Longer term I think mesh tech could cut the expense of virtual fence products used for cattle management by 10x. That'd be good for ranchers if they can get alerts when collared predators are nearby. Virtual fencing is also good for keeping rangeland healthy for pollinators and generally keeping cattle out of trouble.
Cornell's Birdnet pi rig can recognize coyotes, cars, and peoples voices besides birds. That'd be the easiest edge AI rig to mesh up i think if you're willing to put about $300 into the solar hardware. Haven't seen edge trailcam AI systems use it so far.
Good stuff. It's a little geeky still but hopefully stabilizing more this year.
I put up a couple solar MT routers on local peaks and that can connect miles of the CDT and remote wilderness to thousands of homes and businesses in a roughly 10 mile radius. It even can track my dog when I put a 2oz tracker mode on his harness. It's generally about 90% reliable even as the SNR drops below zero which is pretty incredible for <1watt radio. A stretch goal is to make WiFi hotspots along trails for people to check weather or emergency advisories with their phone, even text police dispatch. I doubt the most vulnerable (clueless) backcountry users will typically be prepared with sat comms.
Longer term I think mesh tech could cut the expense of virtual fence products used for cattle management by 10x. That'd be good for ranchers if they can get alerts when collared predators are nearby. Virtual fencing is also good for keeping rangeland healthy for pollinators and generally keeping cattle out of trouble.
Cornell's Birdnet pi rig can recognize coyotes, cars, and peoples voices besides birds. That'd be the easiest edge AI rig to mesh up i think if you're willing to put about $300 into the solar hardware. Haven't seen edge trailcam AI systems use it so far.
Good stuff. It's a little geeky still but hopefully stabilizing more this year.