Can 5G, AI and IoT save us from disasters?
Every 13th of October, the United Nations holds its International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. This day highlights the efforts people and communities take around the world to reduce their exposure to potential environmental disasters. As the number of natural disasters increased since the second half of the 1990s, due to the consequences of climate change, the theme of Disaster Risk Reduction is becoming more important year by year. And recently, with the outbreak of COVID-19, the question on how to better manage crises is only becoming more relevant.
Better predicting or communicating during natural disasters can save human lives. Did you know that between 1994 and 2015 more than 1.5 million people worldwide – or nearly 76,000 people a year – were killed in a natural disaster? In addition, a great deal of economic damage can be avoided through better disaster management.
I’m convinced that new technologies such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence or IoT can also play a major role here. As the proof is in the eating, let me give you some clear examples.
The power of 5G
The emergence of 5G networks will largely improve disaster risk management, as it brings greater speed of transmissions, lower latency and therefore greater capacity and the possibility to connect a larger number of devices. In this sense, 5G allows the transmission of very high resolution video flows. A drone, for instance, will now be able to send very precise images of inaccessible areas to a disaster controlling center in real time. Knowing exactly what is going on and where the need is most urgent could be of great help to rescuers. For natural disasters such as earthquakes, instant measurements can also be crucial in predicting aftershocks. Additionally, 5G will make it possible to process this data more quickly and efficiently. With reduced response times, the potential death toll from any other, upcoming tremors can be further minimised.
For drones to make effective use of a 5G network, the coverage must be dense enough. Today, we see huge efforts of telecommunication companies to fast-track innovative 5G projects to speed up the mobile coverage. In March of this year, for example, Vodafone and Rakuten announced to invest in AST & Science with the goal to broadcast a mobile broadband network from space. The US-based satellite start-up plans to launch the world’s first low-earth-orbit, low-latency network, called SpaceMobile. The network would be able to connect directly to smartphones. Vodafone’s Chief Executive Nick Read said SpaceMobile would further enhance the company’s network across Europe and Africa, especially in rural areas or during a natural or humanitarian disaster. When disaster strikes, telecom networks are often hit and communication is interrupted. If a satellite network can take over when this occurs, it could save many lives.
Connecting the dots with IoT
The Internet of Things, for its part, can also help to improve disaster management. There are all kinds of uses, but let me dive a bit deeper in two concrete cases. First of all, the use case of smart traffic management. With sensors and detectors spread throughout the city and embedded in infrastructure, traffic can be managed in an intelligent way during crisis situations. IoT sensors in roads, traffic cameras or emergency vehicles can collect data and feed it to a disaster controlling center for analysis. As a result, the center can feed optimal lighting patterns back to traffic lights, to ensure journey times for emergency vehicles and relief teams can be optimised.
Another example is the monitoring of forest fires. Sensors on trees can measure parameters such as temperature, moisture or CO2 levels and send alert signals if there’s a critical mix of these criteria. As a result, the local population can be informed faster and firefighters have access to very precise data on the location and spread of the fire.
Fast information processing with AI
Without a doubt, fast data processing is crucial in all kinds of emergency situations. Artificial Intelligence may help to find patterns that are otherwise impossible to track or take a lot of time to track down. Time that is limited during a crisis.
Weather predictions are a well-known example of the direct application of AI. As the rather ‘old’ technology used, like radars, only gathers information, modern technology can actively help to improve forecasting. With AI, a greater amount of data can be analysed faster, which makes the predictions more accurate as well. At the same time, sophisticated algorithms are capable to match data from multiple domains, such as geophysics and biosphere data.
Life-saving potential
The examples above are only a fraction of what will be possible by using modern technology such as 5G, AI and IoT. It does make clear, however, that technology will have a major impact on the domain of disaster management. Technology can’t stop disasters from happening, but through better predictions, early warning systems and a better overview on the crisis situation and ability to intervene, technology can and will save lives.