Date: March 2023
Amount: $311,166

Rhizomatica is a not-for-profit organization in the U.S. whose mission is to provide global accessibility for alternative telecommunication infrastructures for groups and individuals that would not have it otherwise. One of their current projects is the High-frequency Emergency and Rural Multimedia Exchange System (HERMES), which focuses on developing long-range, affordable, and autonomous communications for rural or remote communities, such as the Amazon rainforest. Throughout the duration of this project, gaps in the free software resources that are available were identified, thus paving the way for future improvements.

This grant is for a one-year extension of the HERMES project to develop both free hardware and software solutions to fill the aforementioned gaps, thus providing a valuable HF telecommunication system that can be used by groups not only from isolated communities in the Amazon rainforest but can also be replicated by local amateur radio communities or in the event of an emergency.

Learn more at https://www.rhizomatica.org/.