Technology for Good: Innovative Use of Technology by Charities

Technology for Good identifies ten technologies being used by charitable organizations in innovative ways. The report briefly introduces each technology and provides examples of how those technologies are being used.Examples are drawn from a broad spectrum of organizations working on widely varied issues around the globe. This makes Technology for Good a unique repository of inspiration for the public and private sectors, funders, and other change makers who support the creation and use of technology for social good

Planning UAV Activities for Efficient User Coverage in Disaster Areas

Climate changes brought about by global warming as well as man-made environmental changes are often the cause of sever natural disasters. ICT, which is itself responsible for global warming due to its high carbon footprint, can play a role in alleviating the consequences of such hazards by providing reliable, resilient means of communication during a disaster crisis. In this paper, we explore the provision of wireless coverage through UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) to complement, or replace, the traditional communication infrastructure. The use of UAVs is indeed crucial in emergency scenarios, as they allow for the quick and easy deployment of micro and pico cellular base stations where needed. We characterize the movements of UAVs and define an optimization problem to determine the best UAV coverage that maximizes the user throughput, while maintaining fairness across the different parts of the geographical area that has been affected by the disaster. To evaluate our strategy, we simulate a flooding in San Francisco and the car traffic resulting from people seeking safety on higher ground

Drones on the Rise: Exploring the Current and Future Potential of UAVs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their versatility and affordability. This article provides an overview of the history and development of UAVs, as well as their current and potential applications in various fields. In particular, the article highlights the use of UAVs in aerial photography and videography, surveying and mapping, agriculture and forestry, infrastructure inspection and maintenance, search and rescue operations, disaster management and humanitarian aid, and military applications such as reconnaissance, surveillance, and combat. The article also explores potential advancements in UAV technology and new applications that could emerge in the future, as well as concerns about the impact of UAVs on society, such as privacy, safety, security, job displacement, and environmental impact. Overall, the article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state and future potential of UAV technology, and the benefits and challenges associated with its use in various industries and fields.Comment: 6 pages, IEEE Conferenc

Supporting UAVs with Edge Computing: A Review of Opportunities and Challenges

Over the last years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have seen significant advancements in sensor capabilities and computational abilities, allowing for efficient autonomous navigation and visual tracking applications. However, the demand for computationally complex tasks has increased faster than advances in battery technology. This opens up possibilities for improvements using edge computing. In edge computing, edge servers can achieve lower latency responses compared to traditional cloud servers through strategic geographic deployments. Furthermore, these servers can maintain superior computational performance compared to UAVs, as they are not limited by battery constraints. Combining these technologies by aiding UAVs with edge servers, research finds measurable improvements in task completion speed, energy efficiency, and reliability across multiple applications and industries. This systematic literature review aims to analyze the current state of research and collect, select, and extract the key areas where UAV activities can be supported and improved through edge computing

Drones for Disaster Response and Relief Operations

Aerial drones are one of the most promising and powerful new technologies to improve disaster response and relief operations. Drones naturally complement traditional manned relief operations by helping to ensure that operations can be conducted safer, faster, and more efficiently. When a disaster occurs, drones may be used to provide relief workers with better situational awareness, locate survivors amidst the rubble, perform structural analysis of damaged infrastructure, deliver needed supplies and equipment, evacuate casualties, and help extinguish fires -- among many other potential applications. This report will discuss how drones and the aerial data they collect can be used before, during, and after a disaster. It includes an overview of potential solutions and deployment models, as well as, recommendations on removing regulatory barriers to their use. The American Red Cross, leading private sector companies, and federal agencies coordinated by Measure, a 32 Advisors Company, have come together to explore and explain how and why drones should be used in the wake of natural disasters and other emergencies that threaten widespread loss of life and property

Communication and Control in Collaborative UAVs: Recent Advances and Future Trends

The recent progress in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) technology has significantly advanced UAV-based applications for military, civil, and commercial domains. Nevertheless, the challenges of establishing high-speed communication links, flexible control strategies, and developing efficient collaborative decision-making algorithms for a swarm of UAVs limit their autonomy, robustness, and reliability. Thus, a growing focus has been witnessed on collaborative communication to allow a swarm of UAVs to coordinate and communicate autonomously for the cooperative completion of tasks in a short time with improved efficiency and reliability. This work presents a comprehensive review of collaborative communication in a multi-UAV system. We thoroughly discuss the characteristics of intelligent UAVs and their communication and control requirements for autonomous collaboration and coordination. Moreover, we review various UAV collaboration tasks, summarize the applications of UAV swarm networks for dense urban environments and present the use case scenarios to highlight the current developments of UAV-based applications in various domains. Finally, we identify several exciting future research direction that needs attention for advancing the research in collaborative UAVs

Applications of Drone Technology in the Management of Disaster and Risk Associated with COVID-19 Pandemic in the Built Environment: The Nigerian Experience

The world has of recent being faced by the effects and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and it has had major tolls on the conditions of living, the live expectancy of building occupants, and thus affecting their expected contributions to the national economy. To provide adequate services and measures to fight the pandemic, various institutional measures are evolving daily across the globe. Amidst the measures initiated by both governmental and non-governmental formations are the provisions of medical services and the decontamination of infected buildings and areas occupied by people in order to fight the pandemic amongst the populace. However, the inability to plan, remoteness, and accessibility challenges of buildings and settlements in major parts of the country has made the delivery of relief materials, fumigation of buildings, and the rendering of other services associated with the management of both disaster and risk linked to the COVID-19 difficult. This paper, therefore, focuses on the emerging intervention initiated by an Imperial Majesty in Nigeria, the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Osun State through the adoption and supply of drones to states across the country to decontaminate likely contaminated or uncontaminated buildings and settlements occupied by people. Given the enormous benefits derivable from the adoption of the use of drone technology in the management of disaster-related issues in the built environment in the country, this paper recommends that its use should be vigorously deepened, being an emerging intervention or device through appropriate institutional supports to complement efforts of stakeholders in making the country’s built environment safe and healthy for all

Applications of Drone Technology in the Management of Disaster and Risk Associated with COVID-19 Pandemic in the Built Environment: The Nigerian Experience

The world has of recent being faced by the effects and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and it has had major tolls on the conditions of living, the live expectancy of building occupants, and thus affecting their expected contributions to the national economy. To provide adequate services and measures to fight the pandemic, various institutional measures are evolving daily across the globe. Amidst the measures initiated by both governmental and non-governmental formations are the provisions of medical services and the decontamination of infected buildings and areas occupied by people in order to fight the pandemic amongst the populace. However, the inability to plan, remoteness, and accessibility challenges of buildings and settlements in major parts of the country has made the delivery of relief materials, fumigation of buildings, and the rendering of other services associated with the management of both disaster and risk linked to the COVID-19 difficult. This paper, therefore, focuses on the emerging intervention initiated by an Imperial Majesty in Nigeria, the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Osun State through the adoption and supply of drones to states across the country to decontaminate likely contaminated or uncontaminated buildings and settlements occupied by people. Given the enormous benefits derivable from the adoption of the use of drone technology in the management of disaster-related issues in the built environment in the country, this paper recommends that its use should be vigorously deepened, being an emerging intervention or device through appropriate institutional supports to complement efforts of stakeholders in making the country’s built environment safe and healthy for all