Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MOBNET (MOBile NETwork for people's location in natural and man-made disasters)
Reporting period: 2017-02-01 to 2018-02-28
Numerous approaches are used in current Search and Rescue (SAR) systems for the location of isolated victims using chemical substances detector, unmanned terrestrial robots, thermal imaging, dogs, etc. However, there are situations in which rescuers do not know if there are people in the zone using these methods because they have no direct access to that area, e.g. in mountain areas, unstable areas after a disaster (earthquakes, hurricanes, large snow storms) and normally the time necessary to find survivors is the key of the rescue . There are also other situations in which to enter in the disaster site might not be safe for the rescuers, such as a nuclear plant disaster.
MOBNET will be a SAR system integrated within UAVs that will provide continuous monitoring of the affected area at low cost. Furthermore, it will be easily and quickly deployed, posing no risk to the life of the rescuers and PPDR services, independently of the heavy weather conditions, the malfunction of technical parts or human errors. Likewise, it will not require special training or qualifications to control the UAVs and will fasten the process of locating survivors in vast areas.
The main objective of MOBNET is divided into the measureable scientific and technical sub-objectives specified below:
• Highest timing accuracy in order to detect the mobile phones with a high positioning accuracy.
• Develop a mobile base station (BTS) to locate mobiles within 5m
• Develop a reliable datalink to transmit the location of the mobiles to the ground station used by the rescue services.
• Performance test of the prototype in real operational scenarios using a UAV platform
MOBNET will be a SAR system integrated within UAVs that will provide continuous monitoring of the affected area at low cost. Furthermore, it will be easily and quickly deployed, posing no risk to the life of the rescuers and PPDR services, independently of the heavy weather conditions, the malfunction of technical parts or human errors. Likewise, it will not require special training or qualifications to control the UAVs and will fasten the process of locating survivors in vast areas.
The main objective of MOBNET is divided into the measureable scientific and technical sub-objectives specified below:
• Highest timing accuracy in order to detect the mobile phones with a high positioning accuracy.
• Develop a mobile base station (BTS) to locate mobiles within 5m
• Develop a reliable datalink to transmit the location of the mobiles to the ground station used by the rescue services.
• Performance test of the prototype in real operational scenarios using a UAV platform
Requirements and architecture design: studies the requirements to build an SAR system for the PPDR services.
Multiconstellation and EGNSS positioning development: will investigate and develop the EGNSS module. DCT integration and positioning will investigate and develop the DCT module of the MOBNET system. A prototype to locate people under debris or within buildings will be developed.
Ground Station, synchronization and high level software: the development of the GS module as well as the synchronization and communication links between the MOBNET system’s modules. Develop the high level software to display the mission data over GIS data resources.
Test setup integration and validation: build a testbed so that the MOBNET system can be employed in a SAR operation and validate it against the end-users specifications
Results exploitation and Dissemination: the dissemination of the results of the project and for the interaction with the relevant standardisation
Multiconstellation and EGNSS positioning development: will investigate and develop the EGNSS module. DCT integration and positioning will investigate and develop the DCT module of the MOBNET system. A prototype to locate people under debris or within buildings will be developed.
Ground Station, synchronization and high level software: the development of the GS module as well as the synchronization and communication links between the MOBNET system’s modules. Develop the high level software to display the mission data over GIS data resources.
Test setup integration and validation: build a testbed so that the MOBNET system can be employed in a SAR operation and validate it against the end-users specifications
Results exploitation and Dissemination: the dissemination of the results of the project and for the interaction with the relevant standardisation
Summarising, the proposed MOBNET SAR system presents the following features that go beyond the state of the art:
• High accuracy, in the order of meters.
• EGNSS based precision timing, in the order of 10 nanoseconds.
• Cost effectiveness and light weight.
• Easily and quickly deployed.
• Continuous monitoring of the affected area.
• No risk the rescuers’ life.
• Independent of weather conditions and noisy ambient
• No special training or qualification is needed to use it.
• Fasten the process of locating survivors
The MOBNET system will be the first system to connect UAVs with Digital Cellular Technologies (DCT) and European Global Navigation Satellite Systems (EGNSS) to locate people within buildings or under debris in inaccessible areas. There is no SAR system wither in the market or in the scientific literature that presents all these features together. These features are required to meet the necessities of first responder services.
• High accuracy, in the order of meters.
• EGNSS based precision timing, in the order of 10 nanoseconds.
• Cost effectiveness and light weight.
• Easily and quickly deployed.
• Continuous monitoring of the affected area.
• No risk the rescuers’ life.
• Independent of weather conditions and noisy ambient
• No special training or qualification is needed to use it.
• Fasten the process of locating survivors
The MOBNET system will be the first system to connect UAVs with Digital Cellular Technologies (DCT) and European Global Navigation Satellite Systems (EGNSS) to locate people within buildings or under debris in inaccessible areas. There is no SAR system wither in the market or in the scientific literature that presents all these features together. These features are required to meet the necessities of first responder services.