MERLIN: A LoRa-Based Infrastructure for Bidirectional Crisis Communication Between Civil and Public Authorities

During large-scale blackouts, mobile communicationinfrastructures often fail, limiting coordination andinformation exchange. This problem is particularly criticalin rural areas with a dispersed population, wherecommunication between citizens, authorities, and emergencyservices becomes difficult. This paper presents MERLIN, aLoRa-based communication infrastructure designed to enablebidirectional crisis communication during blackouts.Drawing on crisis informatics, the system's potential tosupport collaboration among stakeholders is examined usinga classification matrix for social software, focusing oncoordination among citizens, public authorities, andemergency services during blackouts. Specifically, thesystem is designed to allow authorities to receiveemergency alerts, coordinate response activities, supportemergency planning, and disseminate critical information tocitizens. The paper presents an example of bidirectionalcrisis communication operating over a purpose-builtLoRa-based wireless mesh network. It discusses itsimplications for crisis informatics research andillustrates how decentralized communication infrastructurescan support coordination and information exchange duringblackouts.