SKYNETA PROGRAM OF RESILIENT NETWORK PUERTO RICO, INC.
RESILIENT NETWORK PUERTO RICO, INC. · RNPR

Connecting Communities. Building Resilience.

Resilient Network Puerto Rico is a community-based nonprofit organization focused on resilient communications, technical education, preparedness, research, and public service across Puerto Rico.

SKYNET · RNPR'S PRIMARY RESILIENT COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
MISSION

Strengthening community resilience.

Resilient Network Puerto Rico strengthens community resilience and emergency preparedness by developing and supporting resilient communications infrastructure, providing technical education and training, promoting innovation and research, and helping communities maintain the ability to communicate before, during, and after emergencies.

VISION

Communications capability that can endure disruption.

A Puerto Rico where every community has access to resilient, accessible, and locally supported communications capabilities that can continue operating when traditional systems are unavailable, overloaded, or disrupted.

PURPOSE

Why RNPR exists

Resilient Network Puerto Rico exists to improve the ability of communities to communicate, share information, coordinate resources, and maintain situational awareness during normal operations and emergencies.

RNPR develops community communications infrastructure, supports education and experimentation, encourages responsible use of communications technologies, and promotes collaboration among residents, volunteers, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, businesses, emergency-management partners, and government entities.

OUR STORY

What happens when the systems we depend on stop working?

Puerto Rico has experienced hurricanes, earthquakes, prolonged power outages, telecommunications disruptions, and other emergencies that have demonstrated the importance of resilient communications.

RNPR was created to help communities develop additional communications capabilities that do not depend entirely on traditional infrastructure.

What began as experimentation with long-range radio communications evolved into SKYNET, a growing communications platform combining community radio nodes, resilient gateways, monitoring systems, mapping, data, automation, and other technologies.

RNPR is building on that work to create a community-focused organization dedicated to communications resilience, technical education, research, preparedness, and public service.

WHAT WE DO

Program areas

Resilient CommunicationsDevelop and support communications systems capable of operating independently or alongside conventional infrastructure.
SKYNET NetworkDevelop a distributed community communications network using LoRa and other appropriate technologies across Puerto Rico.
Community InfrastructureDeploy gateways, relay stations, antennas, backup power systems, and supporting infrastructure in strategic locations.
Emergency PreparednessImprove communications capability and technical readiness before emergencies occur.
Education & TrainingTeach communities about radio communications, networking, electronics, emergency preparedness, and related technologies.
Research & ExperimentationTest emerging communications technologies and study their usefulness in Puerto Rico's environment.
Mapping & Situational AwarenessDevelop tools that help visualize network coverage, infrastructure status, communications activity, and relevant public information.
Community PartnershipsWork with nonprofits, community organizations, schools, businesses, municipalities, radio operators, and other partners.
Volunteer DevelopmentProvide opportunities for technical and nontechnical volunteers to participate in projects and community deployments.
PRIMARY PROGRAM

What is SKYNET?

SKYNET is the resilient communications network and technology program operated by Resilient Network Puerto Rico.

SKYNET combines distributed radio communications, gateways, monitoring systems, Internet connectivity when available, local data storage, mapping, automation, and other technologies to create an additional communications layer for participating communities.

The network is designed around decentralization and resilience. Individual portions of the network can continue providing useful communications capabilities even when Internet access or centralized infrastructure becomes unavailable.

SKYNET objectives

Community CommunicationsSupport communication during normal and emergency conditions.
Resilient InfrastructureDevelop systems capable of operating using backup or independent power.
Distributed SitesUse gateways and relay stations to increase useful reach and redundancy.
ResearchStudy radio propagation, communications reliability, and network resilience.
Situational AwarenessGive authorized users tools to understand network condition and activity.
EducationProvide practical experience with communications technologies.
OPEN-SOURCE TECHNOLOGY

Meshtastic and SKYNET

Meshtastic is a community-driven, open-source project that turns affordable low-power LoRa radios into a decentralized mesh communications platform. The radio mesh can carry messages without depending on cellular towers, Wi-Fi, or Internet service, and devices can relay packets through other nodes when needed.

SKYNET uses Meshtastic as one of the technologies within RNPR's broader resilient communications program. SKYNET adds community infrastructure, gateways, monitoring, mapping, data systems, automation, training, and other technologies around that foundation.

Credit and independenceMeshtastic® is a registered trademark of Meshtastic LLC. RNPR and SKYNET are independent and are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Meshtastic LLC. Meshtastic software is open source; individual components may use different open-source licenses. Refer to the official repositories for the license that applies to each component.
Official Meshtastic website ↗Official GitHub organization ↗Learn more on SKYNET →

Important communications notice

SKYNET supplements existing communications capabilities. It is not a replacement for 911, public-safety communications, cellular service, or official emergency-alert systems.

WHY PUERTO RICO?

Resilience must be built before it is needed.

Puerto Rico's geography, mountainous terrain, tropical weather, isolated communities, electrical-grid vulnerabilities, and history of major hurricanes and earthquakes create unique communications challenges.

Resilient communications cannot begin after a disaster. Infrastructure, relationships, training, and technical knowledge must already exist. RNPR works to develop those capabilities before they are needed.

OUR APPROACH

How we work

LocalSystems should be operated and supported as close as possible to the communities they serve.
ResilientInfrastructure should be designed with outages and failures in mind.
DistributedNo single gateway, Internet connection, or server should represent the entire network.
InteroperableEvaluate multiple technologies instead of depending permanently on one manufacturer or platform.
ResponsibleRadio, network, privacy, licensing, and security requirements must be respected.
AccessiblePeople should not need to be professional engineers to participate.
Evidence-BasedNetwork decisions should increasingly be supported by coverage, reliability, environmental, and operational data.
CORE VALUES

What guides RNPR

Community ServiceTechnology should provide meaningful benefit to communities.
ResilienceWe design systems with failure, disruption, and recovery in mind.
EducationKnowledge is as important as equipment.
InnovationWe experiment responsibly with technologies that may improve communications resilience.
CollaborationStrong networks require communities, organizations, volunteers, government, academia, and businesses to work together.
TransparencyRNPR should clearly communicate how donated resources are used and how projects progress.
Privacy & SecurityResponsible communications systems require appropriate protection of information and users.
IndependenceRNPR's nonprofit mission must remain separate from the financial interests of private businesses or individuals.
STRATEGIC GOALS

Long-term priorities

Expand resilient communications coverageGradually establish strategically located communications infrastructure throughout Puerto Rico.
Build community capabilityCreate people who understand how the network works and can support their local infrastructure.
Improve reliabilityUse real-world observations, testing, and data to continuously improve network performance.
Develop partnershipsCreate relationships with community organizations, universities, nonprofits, municipalities, businesses, amateur-radio organizations, and emergency-preparedness groups.
Build a sustainable organizationDevelop responsible fundraising, governance, volunteer management, documentation, and financial practices capable of supporting the network over the long term.
CURRENT STAGE

We are building from the ground up.

RNPR is an emerging community organization. Our initial work focuses on establishing the organization, documenting existing SKYNET infrastructure, expanding a small number of strategic communications sites, building partnerships, recruiting volunteers, and demonstrating what resilient community communications can accomplish.

We believe sustainable infrastructure is built one site, one partnership, and one community at a time.

View Impact & TransparencyJoin the SKYNET Network