On the 22nd to 23rd of November Hafenstrom will be part of meeting with stakeholders covering different use cases and scenarios. The Arctic University of Tromsø has already run tests on rescue at sea and research has been conducted on the findings. Together with the Norwegian People’s Aid, further tests are planned such as search for lost persons within a limited area. In the days and weeks to come, more results are expected to be gathered and results will be presented.
The health pilot that is part of the Horizon2020 project AURORAL is dependent on technology and operators need to be efficient and well-coordinated. Management and navigating in unstructured information must be in place and well-maintained. Finding means of distributing services and reduce dependecies on just one partner is therefore a prioritized task. Thus, the AURORAL platform can be used as a facilitator for collecting and processing data that can be offered by service providers.
In particular, the health case benefits from this approach. Under the auspices of the 4-year EU-funded project AURORAL, the area around Narvik will be used for testing purposes. Excursions have already been carried out in the area, and emergency plans and response management have been reviewed. Scenarios such as search-and-alert along trails, search-and-rescue for lost persons in predefined geozones, assistance in on-site activities or observation along a predefined path can all be built on shared resources. Furthermore, services can be replicated and scaled up based on need and location. In particular the area around the Beisfjord will be used for testing solutions to combine information collected from drones with knowledge harvested from local sources.
Knowledge can be used in various ways.
- Situational or pre-distributed information can support a warning system that proactively reduces the risk of accidents and personal injury.
- With real-time information obtained from e.g. drones or field workers, it is possible to coordinate the rescue work and strengthen tactical and operational decisions.
- With historical information, one can learn from results and devise better strategies for future events.
One example is the use of geozones. A notification will be sent if an unauthorized person has moved into a protected area. An area is surrounded by a virtual fence consisting of various geolocations (geofencing). Notification will be carried out if the area is set to be closed, dangerous to travel due to climatic or geological conditions, or local knowledge should indicate that areas should be avoided.
For knowledge to be of value, the context needs to make sense. Having an overview of topography, available resources, previous experience and planning skills will be used to assist UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) in training, tactical and operational missions. A main thesis focusing on drone programming and system integration is therefore currently being planned. More training will take place, and our Nordic partners from universities in Oulu, Finland and Västerbotten, Sweden will provide valuable input from different perspectives.