When communications fail under pressure, the consequences are rarely abstract. They are operational, immediate, and sometimes fatal. For Noam Goldman, founder of dotSAGA, that reality emerged not from a single battlefield moment, but from years spent navigating high pressure environments where coordination, not manpower, proved to be the weakest link.

Goldman’s path into security and communications technology spans military service and large scale event production. In both settings, he observed the same recurring failure mode. When incidents occurred, response teams were present, but lacked real time visibility, structured coordination, and reliable communication under stress.

“In both worlds I saw the same pattern: when something goes wrong, the limiting factor isn’t manpower, it’s coordination and communication under stress,” Goldman said.

That insight became personal three years ago during an event he managed in Jerusalem. Two attendees were sexually harassed during the event, yet neither security nor production staff were aware of it in real time.

“That was the moment I realized how deep the problem is,” Goldman said. “The world is still operating with outdated tools that disconnect the people on the ground from the people who are supposed to respond, and there is no reliable way to see or understand what is actually happening in real time.”

From that point, dotSAGA began to take shape not as a consumer safety product, but as an operational system designed to function in chaos.

From Personal Frustration to Critical Infrastructure

Goldman describes the urgency behind dotSAGA as rooted in lived experience. Even in crowded environments with hundreds of staff, getting help can be surprisingly difficult when there is no clear communication chain connecting the right people at the right time.

What elevated the problem from frustration to mission, however, was the realization that the same communication gap could become life or death within seconds.

Two months before the Nova festival attack on October 7, Goldman was contacted by Nimrod Arnin, the festival’s producer. Arnin asked a simple question: “Does it work? Can we use it?”
At the time, dotSAGA had no finished product, only an early concept.

“The absurd part is that he asked for it two months before October 7th, which means we simply didn’t have time to get there before the tragedy,” Goldman said. “And it’s painful to think how many lives could have been saved if a real time mapping and coordination system had existed then.”

Arnin later told Goldman that he managed to save around 15 people that day by manually sending live WhatsApp locations to security forces. He then posed a scenario that crystallized dotSAGA’s purpose.

“Just imagine what it would mean to give security forces a map with 3,000 live locations of people running in every direction, powered by your technology.”

From that moment, Goldman said, it became clear that dotSAGA was not about convenience or incremental upgrades.

“We’re not just upgrading walkie talkies,” he said. “We’re building critical infrastructure.”

The original concept behind dotSAGA was relatively narrow: a personal safety and communications device that could operate without cellular connectivity and integrate into venue operations.

As the system evolved through pilots and deployments, the mission expanded significantly. Goldman now describes dotSAGA as a “Safety Black Box,” an operational system of record that combines off grid communications, real time location awareness, structured incident response, and a command and control platform with full traceability.

“The pivot wasn’t away from the mission,” Goldman said. “It was deeper into it, from safety as a feature to safety as a system of record.”

At a systems level, dotSAGA addresses a gap that Goldman believes most organizations underestimate. Traditional communication tools focus on voice, not coordination.

“Walkie talkies don’t provide structured workflows, location context, or accountability,” he said. “Cellular based tools collapse under load, dead zones, or emergencies.”

dotSAGA replaces voice only communication with a resilient network paired with command and control software, allowing teams to see who reported an incident, who responded, and where everyone is in real time.

How the Technology Works

For non technical users, Goldman describes dotSAGA as a self forming communication web created by wearable devices. Each wearable acts as a node that can relay messages and data. If one route fails, the network automatically reroutes without relying on cellular towers, Wi Fi, or satellites.

Traditional radios operate on fixed channels and point to point communication. dotSAGA combines off grid reliability with location awareness, emergency signaling, and a centralized command center that turns communication into coordinated action.

Operating without external infrastructure is a deliberate design choice. Goldman argues that connectivity is often weakest precisely when it is most needed, during peak density or emergencies.

The tradeoffs are substantial. The system requires extremely efficient communication protocols, careful battery and cost optimization, and a network architecture capable of adapting to constantly changing topologies. The payoff, according to Goldman, is reliability in environments where conventional systems fail.

Built for Stress, Scale, and Movement

dotSAGA’s network architecture combines wearable based mesh networking with optional anchor nodes for extended coverage. If nodes disappear or movement changes network topology, the system adapts automatically. As density increases, critical traffic is prioritized.

Goldman said the current design target supports tens of thousands of concurrent users in venue scale environments. Congestion is managed through traffic prioritization, adaptive routing, layered multiplexing, and dynamic spectrum management.

“We don’t treat this like a consumer network,” he said. “We treat it like a mission critical operational network.”

Location awareness is achieved through a multi signal approach that does not depend on GPS. The system combines peer to peer signal relationships, anchor based validation, and sensor driven context to infer location both indoors and outdoors. Accuracy improves over time through data fusion, particularly in GPS denied environments.

Designed for Panic, Not Screens

One of dotSAGA’s most visible design choices is also its simplest. The wearable device has no screen and a single button.

“In emergency response, simplicity is speed,” Goldman said.

The device is designed to function in panic moments, with gloves, in darkness, under stress, and with users who have zero training. A screen, Goldman argues, adds distraction and failure points. One button creates reliability.

“Press once and the system knows who you are, where you are, and what protocol to trigger.”

Security by Design

Operating off grid does not mean operating unsecured. Goldman emphasized that cybersecurity is foundational to the system.
dotSAGA uses end to end encryption, device authentication, controlled provisioning, role based permissions, and compartmentalization that prevents devices from functioning independently of the platform.

“Even in offline environments, security must remain enforceable,” Goldman said.

The system has been tested in dense RF environments, outdoor terrain, and partial node failure scenarios. The primary lesson, Goldman noted, is that resilience comes from architecture, not just protocol.

From Early Adopters to Defense Applications

Early adopters came from industries where communication failure is common and safety liability is high. These included ski resorts, outdoor camps, venue operations, and remote critical industries.

Feedback from professional security and emergency response teams shaped the platform’s evolution. Users wanted traceability, confidence, and decision clarity, not just communication. That feedback drove the development of structured incident workflows, real time tracking, and clear escalation protocols, as well as an emphasis on zero friction adoption.

Looking ahead, Goldman said dotSAGA is prioritizing higher precision location intelligence, stronger anti interference capabilities, AI driven decision support, production ready hardware, and deeper integration into defense and critical infrastructure command systems through SDK and API expansion.
“The vision is to become the operational infrastructure layer,” he said. “The safety system that continues functioning when everything else fails.”

For Goldman, the mission remains grounded in moments where response time and coordination determine outcomes.

“We’re not upgrading walkie talkies,” he said. “We’re building infrastructure that saves lives in the moments that matter most.”