Q Emergency Network // US915
QLink
An SOS that doesn't need the cell network.
An independent emergency communications path designed to remain operational during loss of conventional telecommunications infrastructure.
≈32-byte SOS packets
902–928 MHz LoRa US915
Weeks of battery life
SYS // Dual path
Two networks. One app.
On a normal day, the QResponse app reaches QDispatch over Wi-Fi and cellular. When that infrastructure fails, the app switches paths: Bluetooth to the QLink on your keys, then LoRa at 900 MHz into the Q Emergency Network. The button on screen does not change. The radio path under it does.
QResponse app // 21:42
Internet connection NONE
Emergency network AVAILABLE ✓
QLink 8F27A1 PAIRED
Report emergency
The app detects the outage and reports what still works. One press hands the emergency packet to the beacon.
EXERCISE // Landfall sim
Take the towers down yourself.
The mesh grows with the community. Every QLink is a node that carries its neighbors' traffic, so coverage compounds: sparse pockets at 5% household adoption, a backbone between major communities at 20%, island-wide redundancy at 50%. Pick an adoption level. Then take the towers down and route three SOS packets through what remains. Coverage is estimated from terrain modeling, not promised.
PUERTO RICO QLINK COMMUNITY MESH
20% ADOPTION SCENARIO — MODERATE & EXPANDING
HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO — FACILITY NAMES & LOCATIONS VERIFIED AGAINST PUBLIC SOURCES (2026) · STATUSES, COVERAGE & OUTAGES SIMULATED
QLink device
- Community Node
- SOS & Check-in
- Offline-First
- Long Battery Life
- LoRa Mesh Radio
Normal day at 20% adoption, moderate and expanding: a backbone of repeater links connects the major communities, several hospitals and fire stations act as gateways, mountain relays bridge the interior, and estimated coverage is 58 percent. Cell sites carry routine traffic; the LoRa mesh is in reserve.
UPLINK // 902–928 MHz
How an SOS travels
Your QLink transmits to any hardened gateway in range. If no gateway answers, a relay carries the packet one authorized hop and tries again. If there is still no gateway, the relay hands the packet to a disaster gateway, which forwards it by satellite or to a local EOC. Every route ends at QDispatch.
HARDWARE // Key fob
The device
QLink lives on your keys and does one job: get a distress signal off your person and onto the emergency network. It pairs with the QResponse app over Bluetooth, but it needs neither the app nor the phone to call for help.
DRAG TO INSPECT · REAR
SOS // No phone required
Hold for SOS
The phone can be dead, smashed, or underwater. Hold the guarded button for about three seconds and QLink transmits an SOS with its last known or onboard position.
BLE 5 // QResponse app
Pairs with the app you already have
Day to day, QLink sits silent and paired. In an outage the app composes the emergency packet and hands it to the beacon over Bluetooth.
GNSS // Independent of cellular
Position without a network
Satellite positioning does not need cellular service. Without assisted-GPS data a first fix can take longer, so QLink also caches the last position your phone supplied.
IP-rated // Fob-sized
Sealed, IP-rated, the battery lasts for weeks
Sealed against rain and immersion. Sized for a keyring. The battery lasts for weeks on a single charge.
Tier 01
QLink
Position relayed from your phone over Bluetooth. The right choice when the beacon rides alongside the QResponse app.
Tier 02
QLink Pro
Onboard GNSS receiver. Fully phone-independent: hold for SOS and it transmits its own position, no other device involved.
| Dimensions | 55 × 38 × 13 mm |
|---|---|
| Radio | LoRa US915 · 902–928 MHz |
| Pairing | Bluetooth Low Energy 5 |
| Trigger | Hold-for-SOS (~3 s), guarded button |
| Status | LED indicator · network / pairing / battery |
| Battery | Rechargeable · lasts for weeks on a single charge |
PAYLOAD // 32 bytes
The entire message is 32 bytes
An SOS carries who you are, where you are, what is wrong, and proof the message is genuine. That fits in 32 bytes. LoRa trades bandwidth for range, and a 32-byte message is what makes the trade work.
Σ 32 bytes. Field widths drawn to scale on the byte ruler. Highlighted fields carry the position and the emergency type.
FAILOVER // L1–L3
Three levels of resilience
The network degrades in defined stages, and every stage still delivers your SOS somewhere a responder can see it.
-
Normal operations
App → Internet → QResponse
Wi-Fi and cellular are up. QLink stays silent on your keys while the app talks to the cloud like any other day.
-
Telecommunications outage
App → BLE → QLink → LoRa → gateway → satellite → QResponse
Towers and local Internet are down. The app hands your emergency to QLink; a hardened gateway forwards it over satellite into dispatch.
-
Catastrophic isolation
QLink → LoRa → local gateway / ambulance / EOC → local QDispatch edge
Backhaul is gone too. The SOS lands at the nearest surviving node: a hospital gateway, an ambulance, or an EOC. A local QDispatch edge keeps dispatching without the cloud.
SITES // Hardened
Infrastructure that stays up
Q Emergency Network gateways sit on hardened buildings and high ground. Their power and their backhaul are engineered separately from the cellular grid.
- Hospitals
- Fire stations
- EMS stations
- Emergency operations centers
- Water tanks
- Elevated municipal buildings
- Mountain comm sites
- Shelters
- Hotels & resorts
Independent power stack
Backhaul failover chain
MOBILE // Gateway
Ambulances carry the network
Every QResponse ambulance is a rolling gateway with LoRa, GNSS, cellular, and optional satellite. When it drives into a cut-off community, it restores emergency coverage and collects every SOS queued in the area.
If the ambulance has a working satellite link, collected emergencies flow straight into QDispatch. If it does not, they persist in local storage and appear on the crew display. The crew responds to what is nearby without any backhaul.
QResponse // Unit 12 · crew display
3 pending emergency requests nearby
0.4 mi Respiratory distress
1.1 mi Injury
1.7 mi Unknown emergency
Backhaul OFFLINE · queue held locally
DOWNLINK // Status
Hospitals broadcast status
The network is not only uplink. Hospital gateways periodically transmit a status frame that nearby QLinks and apps can hear. Downlink capacity on LoRa is far below LTE or Wi-Fi, so status frames stay short and infrequent.
Hospital status // broadcast
Centro Médico de PR
ER OPEN
Capacity LIMITED
Trauma YES
Generator ONLINE
Last update 21:52
With zero Internet, the app still lists which facilities are reporting, how far away they are, and whether they can take patients.
QResponse app // disaster network
Emergency services REACHABLE
Hospital 4.2 km
EMS Station 2.7 km
Mobile Unit 1.3 km
SPECTRUM // Part 15
Straight talk on spectrum
QLink operates on LoRa in the 902–928 MHz band under the US915 regional profile. That is unlicensed spectrum, governed by FCC Part 15, and Part 15 devices have no protection from interference. Nobody selling equipment in this band can honestly promise you otherwise.
So we don't. We will never market QLink as guaranteed emergency communications, because no radio in unlicensed spectrum can guarantee anything. What we engineer instead is redundancy: multiple gateways in range, controlled relays where there are none, three independent backhauls behind every gateway, local dispatch when every backhaul fails, and store-and-forward so no SOS is ever discarded while a route might still appear.
FCC Part 15 · 902–928 MHz ISM · LoRaWAN US915 regional parameters · interference acceptance is a condition of operating in this band. Redundancy is our answer, not promises.
COMMAND // QDispatch
Built for dispatch authority
Emergency requests belong in dispatch. QDispatch is the authority for the Q Emergency Network: every SOS enters dispatch, dispatch assigns agencies, and QResponse runs the responder side. The radio network is not tied to any one ambulance provider. It is built for municipal, regional, and Puerto Rico-wide mutual aid.
PILOT // Deploy
Bring the Q Emergency Network to your community
We are running pilot deployments with municipalities, EMS agencies, and hospital networks: gateway siting, ambulance kits, QLink distribution, and a local QDispatch edge.
Request a pilotOr write to us directly: pilots@qlabsdigital.com