How Dalet Access Labs is Using Vexcel Data for High-speed Network Planning

View the Esri StoryMap for additional information and imagery.

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Connection to high speed internet–especially in more rural areas–became a critical need when the world shut down for the Coronavirus pandemic. With millions of people working from home and children moving to virtual classrooms, the lack of connection to reliable internet became a glaring concern.

In California, the digital divide became an issue of significant importance. Like many other states, California received federal COVID relief funds specifically meant to target the digital divide since 1 in 5 Californians lack broadband connections at home. To spur on creativity and find solutions to this problem, the California Digital Divide Innovation Challenge was born.

The goal of this challenge? Motivate inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to find new ways of providing universal affordable broadband internet. Dalet Access Labs was ready to step up to that challenge.

Planning a Network for Fairhaven

Fairhaven is a tiny, unincorporated area and was an ideal location for addressing the connectivity needs. The area did not have consistently reliable internet service and many children were adversely impacted for their learning and education during the closure of schools. So Dalet, in partnership with the Samoa Peninsula Fire District, got to work developing a plan.

Planning a Network for Fairhaven

Fairhaven is a tiny, unincorporated area and was an ideal location for addressing the connectivity needs. The area did not have consistently reliable internet service and many children were adversely impacted for their learning and education during the closure of schools. So Dalet, in partnership with the Samoa Peninsula Fire District, got to work developing a plan.

The winner of this challenge would receive $1 million but the solution had to provide:

  • Universal high-speed internet across the state, including rural and urban communities
  • Lost cost option – could not be more than $15/month
  • 100 megabits synchronous upload and download speed with no data caps
  • A fully deployable implementation within a year

Dalet’s plan for Fairhaven involved using Vexcel data (Ortho and Elevate) as part of their proposal. Their plan was selected as a finalist for the competition and the network went live on July 1, 2022. Odion Edehomon, founder and CEO of Dalet Access Labs, shared that the entire network operates completely on solar power. “We built it as a critical infrastructure…so if power goes off over the next 20 years, the network will be the only thing that works, because we built it as an off-grid network.” (1)

Get a closer look at the entire proposal–including eye-popping visuals on how Vexcel’s data supported their successful network–on this Esri StoryMap.