SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
Smart technologies are creating a new way of life in the 21st century – your morning
coffee starts brewing before you even wake up in the morning. Self-checkouts have
replaced cashiers at many retail stores. Cars can even park themselves.
Unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one of the most promising and powerful new smart
technologies right now. A UAV, more commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without
a human pilot aboard. Already vital to industries such as agriculture, defense and weath-er
monitoring, UAVs have the unique potential to transform emergency management as we
know it. By leveraging UAVs alongside traditional manned relief efforts in an emergency, op-erations
can be conducted faster, safer and more efficiently.
Imagine emergency responders virtually accessing areas too dangerous for people on the
ground or for manned aircraft, such as sites with nuclear radiation contamination or toxic
fumes. In an emergency situation, UAVs have the unique ability to respond where humans
sometimes just can’t. UAVs have a variety of potential applications:
• Assessing damage
• Providing immediate situational awareness
• Locating lost or trapped individuals
• Performing structural analysis of damaged infrastructure
• Delivering needed supplies and equipment
• Capturing images from inaccessible places
UAVs
to the
Rescue
A tool for emergency
management
By Rebecca Gotto and Jeff Lettvenuk,
Saskatchewan Research Council
Point cloud image (set of data points in 3-D coordinates) of a Project
CLEANS remediated legacy mine in northern Saskatchewan
LEFT: SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
ABOVE: CONCEPTW / 123RF STOCK PHOTO
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