A real-time emergency communication platform for non-verbal, autistic, and communication-impaired individuals.
Built for the moment when someone cannot speak — but still needs to be heard.
In an emergency, the first 3 minutes are critical.
But millions of people cannot speak when it matters most:
| Who | The Crisis Moment |
|---|---|
| 🧩 Autistic individual | Sensory overload → complete shutdown. Cannot explain triggers. |
| 🧠 Stroke survivor | Conscious, but aphasia blocks speech. Paramedic has no history. |
| 🦷 Cerebral palsy | Speech impairment is permanent. Strangers can't understand. |
| 👴 Dementia patient | Gets lost. Cannot remember name, address, or family number. |
| 🧒 Non-verbal child | Separated in a crowd. Cannot ask for help. |
Current solutions fail them:
- Medical alert bracelets show 1–2 words. No instructions, no contacts, no context.
- ICE contacts require unlocking the phone. Most people don't know how.
- Emergency responders are trained for verbal patients. Silence = confusion = danger.
SilentSOS bridges the gap — a single QR scan gives any stranger everything they need to help safely.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ CAREGIVER sets up profile once │
│ ↓ │
│ SYSTEM generates unique QR card (wristband / ID / phone) │
│ ↓ │
│ EMERGENCY happens — stranger scans QR with any phone │
│ ↓ │
│ INSTANT: Medical profile + contacts + calm instructions │
│ ↓ │
│ PARALLEL: GPS captured → WhatsApp alert → caregiver notified │
│ ↓ │
│ PATIENT uses Symbol Communicator to express needs via voice │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
No app download. No login. No friction. Just scan and help.
Emergency Responder View — What a stranger sees after scanning the QR code
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 🛡️ SilentSOS 🌐 हिन्दी ▾ ║
║──────────────────────────────────────────║
║ ║
║ 👤 Arjun Rao • Age 28 • B+ ║
║ ║
║ ⚠️ ALLERGIES ║
║ ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ 🔴 Valium — triggers seizure │ ║
║ │ 🟡 Penicillin — moderate reaction │ ║
║ └────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ 🧩 Autism Spectrum • Epilepsy ║
║ ║
║ ✅ DO: Speak slowly. Use gestures. ║
║ ❌ AVOID: Loud noise. Sudden touch. ║
║ ║
║ 📞 CALL: Meera Rao +91 98765 43210 ║
║ 💬 WhatsApp SOS → Sent ✓ ║
║ ║
║ [😣 Pain] [💧 Water] [😨 Scared] [🆘] ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝
Caregiver Dashboard — Live incident feed with GPS and status sync
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 🛡️ SilentSOS Dashboard ● Live 👤 Riya K ║
║──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║
║ ║
║ 📊 47 scans 🚨 2 active 👥 3 profiles ⏱ 1m 12s avg ║
║ ║
║ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ 🟢 Arjun Rao · MG Road, Bengaluru · 2 min ago │ ║
║ │ Conscious & Responsive · Hindi · [Open] │ ║
║ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║
║ │ 🟡 Sneha Mehta · Koramangala · 18 min ago │ ║
║ │ Unresponsive · Kannada · [Open] │ ║
║ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ ║
║ │ ⚫ Priya Kumar · Indiranagar · Yesterday │ ║
║ │ Transported · Tamil · [Resolved ✓] │ ║
║ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SilentSOS Architecture │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌──────────────────┐
│ CAREGIVER │
│ (Browser) │
└────────┬─────────┘
│ React + Vite
│ Tailwind CSS
▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ VERCEL CDN │
│ (Frontend Hosting) │
│ silent-sos-rust. │
│ vercel.app │
└─────────────┬────────────┘
│ HTTPS / Axios
│
┌─────────────────▼──────────────────┐
│ EXPRESS.JS API │
│ (Render — Node 20) │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Auth Router │ │
│ │ /api/auth/register │ │
│ │ /api/auth/login (JWT) │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Profiles Router │ │
│ │ /api/profiles (CRUD) │ │
│ │ /api/profiles/:id/qr │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Emergency Router (PUBLIC) │ │
│ │ /api/emergency/:qrId │ │
│ │ /api/emergency/:qrId/note │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Alerts Router │ │
│ │ /api/alerts/sos │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
│ Mongoose ODM
▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ MongoDB Atlas │
│ (Cloud Database) │
│ │
│ Collections: │
│ • users │
│ • profiles │
│ • emergencyscans │
│ • alerts │
└──────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────┐
│ QR SCANNER │
│ (Any smartphone) │
└────────┬──────────┘
│ No app, no login
│ Just a browser URL
▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ PUBLIC EMERGENCY PAGE │
│ /emergency/:qrId │
│ • Profile data │
│ • GPS capture │
│ • Symbol communicator │
│ • WhatsApp SOS trigger │
└──────────────────────────┘
CAREGIVER SYSTEM RESPONDER PATIENT
│ │ │ │
│ Create Profile │ │ │
│────────────────▶│ │ │
│ │ Generate uuidv4 QR │ │
│ │ Store in MongoDB │ │
│◀────────────────│ │ │
│ QR Card PDF │ │ │
│ (wristband) │ │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ [EMERGENCY HAPPENS] │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Scan QR code │ │
│ │◀───────────────────│ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ GET /emergency/ │ │
│ │ :qrId │ │
│ │ (no auth needed) │ │
│ │───────────────────▶│ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Log scan event │ │
│ │ + GPS coords │ │
│◀────────────────│ │ │
│ WhatsApp alert │ │ │
│ + Maps link │ │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Profile loaded │ │
│ │ Responder reads: │ │
│ │ conditions, │ │
│ │ allergies, │ │
│ │ calm instructions │ │
│ │ │ Symbol buttons │
│ │ │◀─────────────────│
│ │ │ "I am in pain" │
│ │ │ (spoken aloud) │
These aren't implementation details for their own sake — each choice directly affects how fast and safely someone gets helped.
const qrId = uuidv4(); // e.g. "9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d"Why not sequential IDs?
Sequential IDs (/emergency/1, /emergency/2) are trivially enumerable. Anyone could scrape every patient's medical data. UUID v4 has 2¹²² possible values — brute-force enumeration is computationally infeasible. This is a security-by-obscurity-as-defense-in-depth pattern used in medical record systems.
Emergency data is sorted before rendering using a weighted priority system:
// Allergies sorted by severity weight
const SEVERITY_WEIGHT = { critical: 3, moderate: 2, mild: 1 };
const sortedAllergies = profile.allergies.sort(
(a, b) => SEVERITY_WEIGHT[b.severity] - SEVERITY_WEIGHT[a.severity]
);
// Emergency contacts: primary contact always index 0
const sortedContacts = profile.emergencyContacts.sort(
(a, b) => b.isPrimary - a.isPrimary
);Why this matters: In a high-stress emergency, a responder cannot scan a list. Critical allergies and the primary contact must appear first. This is a max-heap ordering applied at the data layer — O(n log n) sort on small n, but the UX impact is life-critical.
GET /api/emergency/:qrId → No JWT required
POST /api/emergency/:qrId/location → No JWT required
The emergency view is intentionally stateless and auth-free. A responder cannot be expected to create an account before helping someone. This is a deliberate architectural split:
AUTHENTICATED SURFACE PUBLIC SURFACE
───────────────────── ──────────────
/dashboard /emergency/:qrId
/profiles (read-only snapshot)
/profiles/:id/edit
/settings
The public surface only exposes what was explicitly published by the caregiver. Principle of least privilege applied at the route level.
Every QR scan creates a new document — existing documents are never mutated:
// emergencyscan model — append only
{
profileId: ObjectId,
qrId: String,
scannedAt: Date, // immutable timestamp
location: { lat, lng },
scannerIp: String,
responderNotes: String
}This mirrors the event sourcing pattern — the full audit trail is preserved. Caregivers can answer: "Who scanned this, when, and from where?" This is the same approach used in financial ledgers and medical audit systems.
Register:
password → bcrypt.hash(password, 12) → stored in DB
Login:
input → bcrypt.compare(input, hash) → JWT signed (HS256)
JWT payload: { userId, iat, exp: 7d }
Protected routes:
Authorization: Bearer <token>
→ middleware verifies signature → attaches req.user
Salt rounds = 12: roughly 300ms per hash on commodity hardware. This makes brute-force attacks on leaked hashes computationally expensive while keeping login latency acceptable for users.
// sw.js — cache-first strategy for emergency data
self.addEventListener('fetch', (event) => {
event.respondWith(
caches.match(event.request).then(cached => {
return cached || fetch(event.request).then(response => {
caches.open('silentsos-v1').then(cache => {
cache.put(event.request, response.clone());
});
return response;
});
})
);
});Why: Hospitals, basements, and rural areas often have no signal. Once a profile is loaded, the Service Worker caches all assets. The symbol communicator and medical notes remain available offline. This is a cache-first, network-fallback strategy — standard pattern in PWA engineering.
| Method | Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
POST |
/api/auth/register |
❌ | Create caregiver account |
POST |
/api/auth/login |
❌ | Login, receive JWT |
GET |
/api/auth/me |
✅ JWT | Get current user |
Register payload:
{
"name": "Riya Kumar",
"email": "riya@example.com",
"password": "securepassword"
}Login response:
{
"token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
"user": { "id": "...", "name": "Riya Kumar", "email": "riya@example.com" }
}| Method | Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
GET |
/api/profiles |
✅ JWT | All profiles for logged-in caregiver |
POST |
/api/profiles |
✅ JWT | Create new emergency profile |
GET |
/api/profiles/:id |
✅ JWT | Single profile by MongoDB ID |
PUT |
/api/profiles/:id |
✅ JWT | Update profile |
DELETE |
/api/profiles/:id |
✅ JWT | Delete profile |
GET |
/api/profiles/:id/qr |
✅ JWT | Get QR code image for profile |
GET |
/api/profiles/activity |
✅ JWT | All scan events for caregiver's profiles |
Create Profile payload:
{
"name": "Arjun Rao",
"age": 28,
"bloodGroup": "B+",
"preferredLanguage": "Hindi",
"conditions": ["Autism Spectrum Disorder", "Epilepsy"],
"allergies": [
{ "name": "Valium", "severity": "critical", "reaction": "triggers seizure" }
],
"medications": [
{ "name": "Levetiracetam", "dosage": "500mg", "frequency": "twice daily" }
],
"emergencyContacts": [
{ "name": "Meera Rao", "phone": "+919876543210", "relationship": "Mother", "isPrimary": true }
],
"calmTriggers": ["Soft music", "Familiar voice"],
"avoidTriggers": ["Loud noise", "Sudden touch"],
"communicationNotes": "Speak slowly. Give him time. Do not force eye contact.",
"whatsappSosEnabled": true
}| Method | Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
GET |
/api/emergency/:qrId |
❌ | Load full profile by QR ID. Logs scan event. |
POST |
/api/emergency/:qrId/location |
❌ | Update GPS coordinates for incident |
POST |
/api/emergency/:qrId/note |
❌ | Add responder note to scan log |
Location update payload:
{
"lat": 12.9716,
"lng": 77.5946
}| Method | Endpoint | Auth | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
POST |
/api/alerts/sos |
❌ | Log SOS event, generate WhatsApp link |
SOS payload:
{
"qrId": "9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d",
"location": { "lat": 12.9716, "lng": 77.5946 },
"message": "Person found unconscious near MG Road"
}Ravi, 24, is autistic and non-verbal. He visits a mall with his mother. In the food court, the crowd noise triggers a shutdown. He drops to the floor, unable to respond or move. A security guard approaches — Ravi cannot speak, cannot make eye contact, cannot give his mother's number.
Without SilentSOS: The guard calls an ambulance. Ravi is taken to a hospital. His mother isn't reached for 2 hours. The hospital doesn't know about his autism or that physical restraint will cause a meltdown.
With SilentSOS: The guard scans the QR on Ravi's ID card. In 4 seconds:
- Sees: Autism, sensory overload instructions, "do not touch without warning"
- Reads: "Play calm music. Give space. Do not crowd him."
- Calls: Mother's WhatsApp — already pre-alerted with Google Maps pin
- Ravi taps: 😨 Scared → phone speaks "I am scared" aloud
Kamala, 67, had a stroke 8 months ago. She has aphasia — she understands everything but cannot form words. She takes blood thinners. At the pharmacy, she feels dizzy and collapses.
The pharmacist scans her wristband QR code:
- Conditions: Stroke recovery, Aphasia
- Medications: Warfarin 5mg daily — DO NOT give aspirin or NSAIDs
- Blood group: A+
- Contact: Son — Dr. Venkat Rao (emergency listed first, sorted by priority weight)
The pharmacist avoids aspirin (which could cause internal bleeding), calls the son, and waits for the ambulance with full context.
Aanya, 8, is non-verbal due to cerebral palsy. She becomes separated from her father at a busy railway station. She can tap but cannot speak.
A railway employee notices her. She is wearing a SilentSOS wristband. The employee scans it:
- Photo confirms identity
- Name, age, father's number appear instantly
- Communication board: Aanya taps 😨 → phone says "I am scared, please help me"
- Father receives WhatsApp alert with platform GPS coordinates
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ FRONTEND │
│ React 18 + Vite · React Router v6 · Axios │
│ Tailwind CSS · Lucide Icons │
│ Web Speech API (TTS) · MediaRecorder API │
│ Service Worker (PWA / Offline) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BACKEND │
│ Node.js 20 · Express.js · Mongoose │
│ JWT (HS256) · bcrypt (rounds: 12) │
│ qrcode npm package · uuid v4 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DATABASE │
│ MongoDB Atlas (Cloud) · Mongoose ODM │
│ Collections: users, profiles, │
│ emergencyscans, alerts │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ INFRASTRUCTURE │
│ Vercel (Frontend CDN) · Render (Node API) │
│ UptimeRobot (Health monitoring every 5 min) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- Node.js 20+
- npm
- MongoDB Atlas URI (or local MongoDB)
git clone https://github.com/jamunatg2006-sys/SILENT-SOS.git
cd SILENT-SOScd backend
npm installCreate backend/.env:
PORT=5000
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173
MONGODB_URI=your_mongodb_atlas_uri
JWT_SECRET=a_long_random_secret_stringnpm run dev
# API running at http://localhost:5000
# Health: http://localhost:5000/api/healthcd frontend
npm installCreate frontend/.env:
VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/apinpm run dev
# App running at http://localhost:5173| Service | Config |
|---|---|
| Vercel (Frontend) | Root: frontend · Build: npm run build · Output: dist |
| Render (Backend) | Root: backend · Build: npm install · Start: npm start |
| MongoDB Atlas | Shared cluster · IP whitelist: 0.0.0.0/0 for Render |
Render:
CLIENT_URL=https://silent-sos-rust.vercel.app
MONGODB_URI=<atlas_uri>
JWT_SECRET=<secret>
NODE_VERSION=20
Vercel:
VITE_API_URL=https://silent-sos-9h05.onrender.com/api
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THREAT MITIGATION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Profile enumeration UUID v4 QR IDs (2¹²² space) │
│ Credential theft bcrypt rounds=12, JWT 7d expiry │
│ Unauthorized write JWT middleware on all mutations │
│ XSS React's DOM escaping (default) │
│ CORS abuse Strict origin whitelist │
│ Cold credential leak .env never committed to git │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- JWT caregiver auth
- Emergency profiles with QR
- Public emergency view (no login)
- Symbol communicator with TTS
- WhatsApp SOS alert flow
- Scan event logging
- Offline PWA support
- Multi-language display (EN / HI / KN / TA / TE)
- Real-time caregiver dashboard (WebSocket)
- Vitals status broadcast by responder
- Calm Kit — caregiver voice messages
- SMS fallback for WhatsApp
- Printable PDF emergency cards
- Rate limiting + abuse prevention
- Admin moderation panel
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, open an issue first.
# Fork → Clone → Branch
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
# Make changes → Commit
git commit -m "feat: describe your change"
# Push → Pull Request
git push origin feature/your-feature-nameThis project is built for accessibility-focused innovation and hackathon demonstration.
Add a license before commercial distribution.
Built with urgency. Designed for silence. Made for the moments that matter.
SilentSOS — because safety should never depend on someone's ability to speak.
