A swarm of drones circled off the coast of Staten Island on Tuesday to assist water rescue seekers as part of the largest coastal storm drill in history in preparation for the next possible Superstorm Sandy.
The city's drone task force uses groundbreaking technology to conduct a mock large-scale search and rescue mission at the condemned Seaview Children's Hospital, which was hit by 2012's historic and devastating hurricane. I did.
This large-scale exercise marked the first time that the FDNY, NYPD, and the city's Office of Emergency Management collaborated to use their respective unmanned aircraft system technologies for emergency operations training.
“Through this exercise, we hope to derive policies and procedures to better operate in real-life events like this,” said Task Force Exercise Coordinator Jose Rolon.
This simulation followed six months of intensive planning. And, coincidentally, it was right after Hurricane Helen devastated the Southeast this past weekend.
Officials say the drones will be used as “eyes” for rescue workers before they get into dangerous situations. For example, drones can detect collapsed floors before first responders enter a damaged building.
Real-time information gathering will speed up life-saving measures and ensure resources are directed to where they are needed most, officials said.
“As we test connectivity and their tactical equipment…drones [are] “We flew indoors and dropped emergency flotation devices for those in distress,” Rolon said.
“We want to do everything at the same time and make sure everyone has a united effort and everyone can work together.”
The first mission of Tuesday's training was to fly a drone inside a hospital to find victims. ”
NYCEM, NYPD, and FDNY set up a separate command post outside the trunk of the car with multiple computer screens displaying HD quality video from the drone's perspective. Each command post has its own “super Wi-Fi” to avoid connectivity issues even during power outages.
The UAS maneuvered inside the condemned building and discovered all the “victims” without response personnel ever setting foot inside.
Another set of drones with different capabilities were then used to break through the hurricane glass. This was successful with just a few taps.
A series of drones were also used to locate the “victim” in the water before activating the flotation device.
Drones also offer other tactical capabilities, such as using virtual reality goggles to get a first-person perspective from the drone. The drone also has speakers that can relay messages out loud in 80 languages. Another addition is the spotlight on drones.
Roron said this during training. I think we're going to learn a lot and I think we can grow a lot going forward. ”
said FDNY Captain George Farinacci. There are certainly obstacles, but again, if this works at all, you'll be saving many times the time you spent trying to get it to work. This is 100% useful for rescue operations. ”
The exercise was conducted ahead of the 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which killed 147 people, including 44 New York City residents.
Over a 48-hour period, wind, rain, and water destroyed nearly 300 homes, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, damaged critical public and private infrastructure, and left many New Yorkers without access to food and drinking water. Access was restricted and left vulnerable. health care and other essential services, according to the city.
It was widely considered to be the most destructive hurricane in the continental United States.
Sandy sparked one of the largest public service mobilizations in history, but faced significant challenges that prompted the creation of an interagency drone task force.
“Some of the biggest challenges have always been communication and interoperability,” Rolon says. “Everyone has their own system, their own channel, and they operate there. So what we wanted to do is have everyone on the same channel, speak the same language, use the same equipment, It was about bringing something that we could work on together. And that's what we're trying to do here today.”
