Two Tech Industry Leaders Team Up to Produce Super-Drone Solution

In the chaos of a crisis, time is the enemy. The longer it takes to assess a dangerous situation and deploy the appropriate action, the greater the chance of the incident escalating. With that in mind, Aquiline Drones (AD), an American drone manufacturer and cloud-technology company, and AWARE®, a secure, cloud-based suite of technologies designed for first responders, announce a strategic partnership that will enhance the ability to comprehensively respond to any emergency incident.

The new collaboration creates a unique end-to-end SaaS platform that extends AWARE’s Smart Response software to AD’s Spartacus line of autonomous, AI-enabled, U.S.-made drones and its cloud-based cognitive AI services with real-time control and dynamic on-field decision-making capabilities, helping firefighters, police officers and EMTs assess a situation, deploy necessary resources and determine their life-saving course of action in real time before, during and after an emergency event.

“Merging live AI-processed drone video streams with the patented AI-enhanced audio streams offered by AWARE® significantly enhances situational awareness for first responders and the value they provide in service to their community,” says Dalton Pont, chief innovation officer at Aquiline Drones. “Additionally, Aquiline Drones’ maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) model guarantees fully functional operational UAVs, which eliminates worry and ensures high-quality use when it matters most.”  

“At its core, AWARE® is a technical platform of communication and visualization tools that facilitate quick decision-making for any type of incident or event response,” says Roger Mann, CEO of AWARE®.  “What’s more, the system is compatible with any existing hardware and software for seamless integration into a responder’s daily workflow, whether it be on a tablet, a vehicle’s mobile data terminal, a large-screen computer or even a smartphone.  It is as useful to a small department as it is to a major urban disaster-response agency, providing critical decision support before, during and after an event.”

There are three main components to the AWARE® platform:

• ActionMap — provides a unified ArcGIS™-based mapping platform that allows dispatchers, commanders and first responders to view exactly the same information as an incident develops in real time. It incorporates data layers including critical infrastructure, hospitals and schools, while displaying live video, near real-time audio transcription, pictures, GPS locations, known hazards, or other location factors that can impact response and rescue efforts. In addition, ActionMap is able to generate, upload and store pre-plans and action plans.
• Multi-Modal Communications (MMC) — is a patented, secure communications platform that integrates live voice-to-text transcription with text messaging, voice playback, and customizable keyword highlight into an intuitive user interface that improves comprehension and situational awareness of 911 operators, field responders and those in the command center. By spatially separating radio traffic into the listener’s ear, MMC enables incident teams to monitor and track multiple talk groups and channels simultaneously and understand information coming across multiple radios more quickly.
• AwareMobile — is a smartphone application that allows the user to stay updated with an event or incident while in the field. Team members can rapidly and easily send and receive secure messages, pictures and video while also following along with MMC transcription. This greatly reduces the need for repeated radio transmissions and provides responders with accurate locations and turn-by-turn navigation details.

Pont notes several missions that AWARE®-armed Spartacus drones can fulfill for first responders, including:

• Delivery of emergency supplies — When seconds count, drones can be sent ahead of first responders to assess the situation on the ground, give responders a critical heads-up and also be used to deliver lifesaving supplies and equipment to victims that are not readily reachable by a human in time.
• Search and rescue — Drones can perform search and rescue missions, helping police officers and firefighters locate missing persons, survivors of an explosion or building collapse, or accident victims thrown from cars. 
• Disaster management — A drone’s aerial imagery provides enhanced situational awareness to improve visibility in difficult conditions, while locating subjects in darkness or heavy vegetation, thus reducing the time, cost and risk associated with on-foot operations.
• Law enforcement — Drones can be deployed in advance of police intervention to provide first-person viewing and real-time situational awareness, thus capturing crimes in action, providing first responders with live footage of the scene, and even recording footage/images of an assailant.
• Site assessment — Drones can “see” through smoke by providing real-time video and overlaid area topography and maps to offer important insight needed to enhance missions. They can even pinpoint hidden fires in roofs and walls to better protect a firefighting team.

“From raging wildfires out West to devastating building collapses on the East, police officers, firefighters and EMTs must constantly rise to the challenge of keeping Americans safe,” says Barry Alexander, founder and CEO of Aquiline Drones. “Our new partnership with AWARE® helps protect and save them by minimizing or eliminating hazards entirely.”

For more information on AWARE, visit www.GlobalFlyte.com.

For more information on Aquiline Drones, visit www.AquilineDrones.com.