Dubai, UAE – Nokia won the UAE Drones for Good (D4G) Award in the international category last evening for showcasing the use of drones to facilitate efficient rescue operations for first responders. Using its Ultra Compact Network – a highly portable base station – Nokia demonstrated the creation of an instant high-speed LTE network to establish connectivity between video camera-equipped drones and a control center. H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, presented the award to Nokia Saving Lives team at the award ceremony.
Network connectivity is often the first priority of any rescue operation since it is often compromised in disaster situations. Nokia’s Ultra Compact Network provides a standalone LTE network to quickly re-establish connectivity to various mission-critical applications including video-equipped drones. Drones can stream video and other sensor data in real time from the disaster site to a control center, providing inputs such as exact locations where people are stranded and nature of the difficulty of reaching the locations.
The Nokia Saving Lives initiative establishes such a control center in a disaster location which analyzes data using Nokia Video Analytics technology to derive useful insights that enable quick decision-making for prioritizing tasks for efficient and safe rescue operations. Nokia’s Video and Data Analytics solution together with rescue applications and mission advisor tools provide the required intelligence for making appropriate decisions quickly.
In October last year, Nokia became a member of the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter which aims to support improved access to communication and information for those affected by crisis in order to reduce the loss of life and positively contribute to humanitarian response. Nokia will continue such cooperation and will partner with operators and NGOs in its initiative to help rescue operations, providing a limited number of its Nokia Saving Lives initiative with a not-for-profit approach. The initiative is currently being tested with operators and NGOs and will be demonstrated at Mobile World Congress 2017.
Bernard Najm, head of the Middle East Market Unit, Nokia, said: “We are honored and thrilled to receive the award for our innovation from the UAE government that continues to execute its vision of making Dubai the smartest city in the world. This award provides us further impetus to our research and innovation in various areas. Nokia always strives to expand the human possibilities of technologies for the benefit of mankind. We are committed to corporate social responsibility, and with ‘Nokia Saving Lives’ we want to use our technologies with drones for efficient rescue operations in collaboration with NGOs and network operators. The award from the UAE Drones for Good Award clearly underlines the usefulness of this innovative initiative for smart disaster recovery.”