Project Plan (Plain Language)

(Summary of the repo’s PLAN.md. Each phase has a clear “done when” test.)

Phase 0 — Count what we have (in progress)

List every drone, controller, beacon, radio, battery, and Starlink kit in the inventory; confirm our accounts (TAK downloads, Somewear admin, Skydio). Done when the inventory is filled in and all three logins work.

Phase 1 — The shared map

Rent a small cloud server, install the free TAK server software, and connect the first phones. Done when a phone in Quinhagak and a phone in Eek can see each other moving on the map and exchange messages. This alone is already a useful search tool. Includes loading offline maps of our area onto every phone — searches happen where there’s no signal.

Phase 2 — Beacons on the map

Connect Somewear so every beacon shows up for the whole team, and install the Somewear plugin on Android phones for off-grid messaging. Done when a searcher walking out of village WiFi stays on the map the whole time, via satellite.

Phase 3 — The drone’s eye

Connect the Skydio controller to the map (drone position) and its camera to the video server. Done when anyone on the team can open the drone’s live video and watch the camera’s footprint move across the map during a real flight.

Phase 4 — Team tools (software we write ourselves)

The equipment inventory app (done — see the Inventory guide), plus a mission logger that records each search for review afterward, and a status dashboard.

Phase 5 — Radio trackers (stretch goal)

Add Meshtastic radios: cheap, no subscription, no infrastructure — a third way to keep searchers on the map.

Phase 6 — Make it stick

Training in each village, printed quick-guides, backups, and a plan for when the internet is down.

What it costs to run

Item	Cost
Cloud server	~$12–24 / month
TAK software (server + all apps)	Free
Somewear service	Existing QSAR plan
Meshtastic radios (later)	~$40 each, once