In the past 10 years, there have been 158 named storms in the Atlantic Ocean, almost 10 more than the last decade. In this ten year period, 72 were Category 1 Hurricanes which had a maximum sustained wind strength of 74mph. In just the past few years, America sustained the two costliest hurricanes 2017’s Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria, one of the deadliest hurricanes 2012’s Sandy, and the most powerful hurricane to hit land 2019’s Dorian.
Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on September 20 as a Category 4 storm and caused $90 billion of damage and left almost 3,000 people dead. Although Maria destroyed roads, bridges, and towns, it took down Puerto Rico’s power grid and destroyed most of the wireless networks and internet cables. As a result, many relief efforts were unsuccessful due to a lack of connection. Family members and emergency responders were not able to contact injured people and emergency workers and firefighters were unable to monitor their vitals.
In order to prevent these issues from reoccurring, tech developers from Project OWL hope to create new technologies like mesh networks that can be quickly deployed in ruined areas and wearable equipment that monitors the health of firefighters in real-time. According to their CEO Bryan Knouse, “In the worst disasters, chaos, and misinformation are pervasive,… With better information and better analytics, you can get the resources you need to the places that need it most.”
This technology currently deployed at the University of Puerto Rico can be used to help people in rural areas. “There are people living in the rural areas, and as soon as something happens to them — they have an injured person, they’re lacking food or they’re lacking water — they can immediately notify [first responders] through this mesh network. The first responders will immediately know where and what is going on.”
As global warming gets worse, the increased moisture will provide additional fuel for hurricanes resulting in more issues like this. With the help of this new drone software, emergency response will be simplified and more effective.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/features/after-a-disaster-wi-fi-is-a-lifeline/
There are so many possibilities with drones and their capabilities grow every day. Drones can have attached thermal imaging cameras which can help find people that are can’t be seen otherwise. Also some drones can even carry objects and then drop them off this can allow responders to give food and maybe clothes to people who are inaccessible and there are attachments that allow the drone operator to speak through the drone and hear what is said back, allowing for communication when people don’t have means to otherwise. These are just extreme cases but there are also more everyday applications of drones.
I think this is a really cool idea. It is a product that will always have a need, and is fairly easy to implement. As Rukshang mentioned above, global warming is only getting worse so this product will be desired by many states and local governments specifically for hurricane damage assessment. We can all agree that the media will sometimes overdeliver or oversell storms in order to build hype. A product like this can help the users decide for themselves what the damage looks like.
Another cool part is that it has been implemented across the globe by 5 researchers from IBM. That means that they have the funding to take this into areas that might not be able to host technology on this scale, for a relatively cheap price.
https://www.project-owl.com/about
I think this is a really cool idea. It is a product that will always have a need, and is fairly easy to implement. As Rukshang mentioned above, global warming is only getting worse so this product will be desired by many states and local governments specifically for hurricane damage assessment. We can all agree that the media will sometimes overdeliver or oversell storms in order to build hype. A product like this can help the users decide for themselves what the damage looks like.
Another cool part is that it has been implemented across the globe by 5 researchers from IBM. That means that they have the funding to take this into areas that might not be able to host technology on this scale, for a relatively cheap price.
https://www.project-owl.com/about
I think the drone is a very useful invention. I feel that drones have become more widely used in recent years, even appearing in People’s Daily life. At least I’ve been reading a couple of stories about drones lately. Because of privacy concerns, the widespread use of drones has drawn mixed reviews. But I think that’s a good thing if drones are used for the right things, like this blog mentions, rescue operations in the aftermath of the hurricane. The force of the hurricane was immense, usually after the hurricane, “infrastructure supply lines are cut and disabled. When roads, bridges, communication cables and gas and water lines are compromised, the safety of residents in the area is also compromised”. At this time, drones can provide people with supplies in a timely manner.
Actually, not only hurricanes, but also drones can provide relief from other natural or man-made disasters, such as the forest fires or terrorist attacks. Drones can put out hot wildfires that people can not get close to, or track terrorists and conduct rescue operations during terrorist attacks. So I think the widespread use of drones is to be expected.
My source: https://safetymanagement.eku.edu/blog/5-ways-drones-are-being-used-for-disaster-relief/
This is a great way to use drones, and I know it convinces me personally that drones can be actually be used for the greater good. On the topic of hurricanes, I think that it could be beneficial to use drones when monitoring potential hurricanes. What if we were able to track down a hurricane using a drone and properly warn an area that is about to be hit by one and allow them to evacuate in a timely manner?
After doing some research on this thought of mine, in this article linked below, an NCAR scientist describes a drone they have created that give scientists a way to study the way that gusts shift and fluctuate, allowing for them to provide more accurate data then ever before in order to create better forecast future hurricanes. This drone could potentially allow for forecasting to the point where there wouldn’t have to be people stranded in their homes unable to receive any help due to their lack of connection with the outside world. This problem could possibly be avoided altogether with drones.
Although this seems like a wonderful idea, we all know that forecasts aren’t always accurate. There are potential issues that may arise, like evacuating an area that ends up not getting hit by the hurricane and annoying all the residents for the unnecessary scare. Also, the predications may not make the hurricane out to be severe enough. I do see potential problems with this, but as technology advances, I’m sure this could be a reality for the future of predicting hurricanes.
https://www.weathernationtv.com/news/drone-provide-a-new-frontier-in-hurricane-observations/
I feel like this is a very unique way of utilizing this drone technology, a lot of the times I don’t think about the actual good drones can do other than being entertaining to play around with. Just in the past few years, there have been multiple significant storms to hit the U.S. and cause serious damage, and for the millions of people that are affected it is obviously beneficial if they receive help as soon as possible. Information that can be received faster by first responders could save many lives. This is a great application of this new and developing tech.
Hurricane seasons are becoming more and more worrying every year with the issues surrounding global warming. Tech like this is likely to be necessary as storms get more often and more severe. It is basic scientific understanding that climate change and global warming has been caused by human intervention, and since that is unlikely to change anytime soon (unfortunately), at least we have some new technological innovations to help curb the horrible effects.
https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/
I believe this is a very useful invention. It is insane to think about the fact that we have this technology that can resemble a first responder in emergencies like hurricanes. The use of drones for circumstances like these ones is incredible and will save lives, as well as help real-life first responders. Especially with the rise of global warming, this product will be more and more useful as the number of hurricanes increase. I found this article that actually lists all of the different scenarios that drones could help individuals struck by a natural disaster that I believe is very useful and extends on the information you have shared.
https://www.precisionhawk.com/blog/how-drones-aid-in-disaster-response