Project title: Drones for rescue assistance in natural disasters services in Caucasus region

Project Background:
Current State of natural disasters in the world

Natural disasters which include but are not limited to: earthquakes, floods, wildfires, volcanoes are
unavoidable and often wreak havoc leaving the country with tons of infrastructure damage and
losses. According to Insurance Information Institute, in 2020, there were 980 natural disasters that
resulted in total losses of $210 billion dollars. The institute also reported that this was a 27% higher
loss than that which was reported in 2019.

Current State of natural disasters state in the Caucasus region

Major natural disasters in the Caucasus region from 1990 to 2016 include, as shown in Figure 1,
flood, earthquake, landslide and extreme temperature. Flooding in spring and summer is one of
major natural disasters in the region, frequently caused by melting snow (and glaciers in recent
years) of mountains. Many natural hazards in the region are trans-boundary in nature. In addition,
there is an increasing incidence and severity of hydro-meteorological hazards, some of which are
related to climate change.

Figure 1 - Pie chart of natural disasters trend in Caucasus region from 1990 to 2016
Frequency of natural disasters is challenging to apply efficient management, communication,
decision-making and allocation of emergency crew in the Caucasus region.

Emergency units often find it difficult to respond quick enough as they cannot easily understand the
following before they are deployed:

● Severity of damage at site

● Location of survivors
● Quickest and safest access routes to reach to survivors

In this case, in order to improve and speed up rescue campaigns, utilisation of drones for
surveillance during natural disasters became quite essential in the last decade. Moreover, drones
have already been successfully used by a number of countries and across different natural disasters.
Examples of these include (Ciobanu, 2018):

● Wildfires in California in 2016 - Drones used to identify where wildfire was progressing
rapidly and also locate survivors and deploy support
● Hurricane in Texas in 2017 - Drones used to assess flood damage, identify survivors that
required help and predict areas of future flood risk
● Earthquake in Mexico city in 2017 - Drones used to provide a map of the district hit and
highlight buildings that sustained major damage to assist with reconstruction efforts

Business Case:
Considering the above mentioned, application of drones for surveillance and rescue for natural
disasters in the Caucasus region will be a profitable and useful project.

Benefits of using drones for surveillance include the following:

● Efficient communication: Drones have an unfair advantage over humans as a simple upload
of possible events and assigned actions to the drone software, automatically deploys the
drone. In the event of a disaster, the video management system notifies the drone about an
event and location via GPS coordinates. The drone will dispatch and fly out to the location
using onboarding navigation
● Speed: Drones are quick and automatic dispatch functionality means they always have a
head start. Ground-based objects also do not constrain them making them super efficient.
● Superior vision: Camera technology on drones allows superior image and video quality while
also collecting metadata of a scene. The zoom function on drones allows surveillance at a
distance which means multiple objects can be tracked. Thermal cameras provide the ability
to see in difficult weather conditions and smoke as well as provide heat maps to identify
survivors.
● Safety: Personnel deployed to an unsafe area or scenario always have a set of rules they
need to follow in each scenario. Drones do not have to follow these. In instances where
there are fires or floods, drones can get to the zones they need to without having to find a
route or means to get there.
● Artificial intelligence: Drones have the capability to detect poor weather conditions or
unsafe conditions. While doing the above, they still are able multitask e.g. to receive
commands and send back videos.
Mission and Vision:
Our mission is to utilise the integration established between the capabilities of advanced technology
and rapid response to reduce the effects of natural disasters on humans and wildlife, as well as
infrastructure, in natural disaster prone areas. Our long term vision is to be able to control disasters
effectively and minimize losses.

Project purpose:
The purpose of this project is to provide drone surveillance and rescue services for natural disasters
in the most impacted areas of the Caucasus region.

The service will focus on assisting the emergency teams in the case of a natural disaster to:

● Assess the severity of damage by providing imagery of the disaster

● Detect and map the location of survivors

● Plan access routes to get to the survivors

● Assess the size of emergency spread to deploy to assist with recovery

The overall goal of the project is to be able to assist emergency crews to assess and plan effectively
so that they can save as many lives, infrastructures and environment as possible and consequently
minimize government and companies expenses in the event of a disaster.

Project Scope:
Project scope is set-up and develop a drone surveillance and rescue system for the Caucasus region
which is prone to natural disasters.

The project scope shall be included, but not limited:

● Collection historical data and site inspections of prone areas in the region
● Develop strategy and relevant documentation for drone monitoring and mapping system
services
● Procurement of required equipment, materials, facility and services for drone implication
● Testing of drone system in the concerned region ( Factory testing, functional testing, IST etc.)
● Provision of training with certification to operate and maintain the drones system
● Hand-over and commissioning drone monitoring and mapping system services

Goals and set targets:

The main goals of this project:

● Save lives
● Save time
● Minimize expenses
● Access to historical data/information to assist in future disaster management planning
● Accuracy of survey
Project schedule:
- Drone hire

o Specify drone fleet required

o Confirm maintenance program and fee structure

o Confirm hardware set-up requirements

o Confirm software requirements

o Review and sign contract for service

- Integration

o Integration of drone control system with battery system to ensure return on low
battery

o Integration of Wide Area Network (WAN) and communication protocols with drone
communication system

o Integration of software interfaces and drone’s processing unit

- Set-up drone operation plan

o Set-up hardware and software required

o Set-up schedule to deploy drone

o Configure drone inspection based on predefined criteria e.g. flying time, speed,
charge time

- Carry out planned test

o Testing of communication infrastructure for the drone system

o Testing of imagery quality projected

o Testing of return to home function on low battery

o Testing of navigation and landing

o Testing of data logging

- Set up a training program

- Create training material
- Hire/educate training personnel

Planning and Project milestones:

 - Data collection and inspection - duration 1 month - start date on 01.09.2021 - 01.10.2021
- Define project strategy and preparation of documentation - duration 2 months - 01.10.2021
- 01.12.2021
- Tender and set up contract with the drone hire company, purchasing material, equipment
and facility - duration 3 month - start date on 01.12.2021- 01.03.2022
- Testing of drone monitoring and mapping system - duration 1 month - 01.03.2022 -
01.04.2022
- Develop drone piloting and training program - duration 1 month - 01.04.2022 - 01.05.2022
- Roll-out training - duration 15 days - 01.05.2022 - 15.05.2022
- Handover and commissioning of project - duration 15 days - 15.05.2022 - 01.06.2022

Budget: - Blanca

● Drones-> The cost per flight hour varies by type of drone, but the larger armed
systems such as the Global Hawk cost up to $15,000 per hour. According to
information obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, construction of the
drone base in Niger was projected to cost $100 million.
drone(per piece 45000$
● Hardware to view

● Software (Application) -

● Develop training program, hire competent personnel and facility - 150,000 USD

Item: Number: Cost:

oTHER HARDWARE 1000USD

Hardware DRONE 45000 USD

Software package 500USD

Key Deliverables:
The primary output of the project is a drone surveillance system service that provides a live imagery
system of an area at the time it is impacted by a natural disaster.

The Drone hire team will deliver the following as part of the service rendered:

● Drone fleet
● Drone monitoring and mapping system with relevant equipment
● Training with certification to operate and maintain the drones and control system
● Set-up for reporting - using historical data to assist with future disaster management
planning
 ● Testing and support
● Maintenance support

The following are key features that shall be provided by drone surveillance and rescue system:

● Coordinates of point being surveyed

● Indicator and coordinates of survivors
● Mark-up of possible access routes to reach to the survivors

Constraints:
- Not able to easily find sponsor
- Lack of buy-in or support for the idea
- Governmental regulations that prohibit the use of drones or require permission to fly
- Lack of historical data to provide the information required
- Features required by drones not available/invented
- Complexity of the system and ability for personnel to learn how to use it

- Drone training expertise available (drones are tricky to pilot and often not easily adopted)

- Costs of drones (as they approach higher costs with special features e.g. image software,
hardware to process data etc.)

Risks: (What high level risks can the project face- conduct a risk assessment)
- Incorrect budget assessment for the project leading to failure to roll-out
- Inability for resources to learn and adapt to the system - Training material is of high
standard. Ensure trainers are well qualified. Assessments selection program to be in place to
ensure quality of personnel selected.
- Features of drone insufficient to handle all-natural disaster types e.g. not waterproof but
disaster is a flood
- Incorrect information returned from drone monitoring and mapping system
- Unable to deliver the project on target date - Contingency plan in place to keep project on
schedule. Ensure proper planning, monitoring and control is carried out for the duration of
the project.
- Failure of integration of drone monitoring and mapping systems - Conduct detailed pre-
checks to ensure existing emergency system infrastructure compatibility.
- Damaged drone as a result of environmental constraints - Natural disaster site visits to be
conducted to assess possible ways the drone can be damaged
- Drone technical or maintenance issue - Maintenance schedule to be in place. Spare parts to
be made available to assist in quick repair in instances where failures occur. Warranty plan
to be in place to assist in instances where there is a technical issue.
- Negative community response to the use of drones
- Data privacy and security concerns
-
Risk mitigation plan: → Estabrak
Possible Risks:
1- Risks related to the human resources working in the project
Mitigation actions:
· Team life insurance
· Providing the team with safety equipment
· Training work team about first aid techniques
2- Risks related to equipment damage
Mitigation actions:
· Choosing good quality with a guarantee from the manufacturer for the devices
· Maintaining equipment and ensuring that it is working in time of emergency
· Training the work team on procedures for dealing with emergency equipment problems in
the workplace
3- Risks related to the loss of communications and recorded data
Mitigation actions :
· Use of reliable communication systems
· The presence of supportive systems in the event of failure of the main systems
· Ensure that a copy of the data collected is available (backup)

Risk Probability Impact Mitigation action

- Inability for resources

medium high
● Training material is of high standard.
to learn and adapt to ● Ensure trainers are well qualified.
the system
● Assessments selection program to be in place to ensure
quality of personnel selected.

- Unable to deliver the

weak medium
● Contingency plan in place to keep the project on schedule.
project on target date ● Ensure proper planning, monitoring and control is carried
out for the duration of the project.

- Failure of integration
medium high
● Conduct detailed pre-checks to ensure existing emergency
of drone monitoring system infrastructure compatibility.
and mapping systems

- Damaged drone as a
high high
● Natural disaster site visits to be conducted to assess possible
result of ways the drone can be damaged
environmental
constraints

- Drone technical or
high high
● Maintenance schedule to be in place.
maintenance issue ● Spare parts to be made available to assist in quick repair in
instances where failures occur.
● Warranty plan to be in place to assist in instances where
there is a technical issue.

Project Stakeholders: (Who will be involved in the project and who will be affected by it)
- Sponsor/Client
- Aviation authority
 - Rescue drones supplier
- Government entities (Ecological, Geological, Environmental)
- Emergency crew (Firefighters, medical staff, rescuers)
- Mechanical and Electronic engineers
- Software developers (Front-end and back-end), Design and User Experience
- Trainers
- Drone specialist company
- Project Coordinators

Feasibility of Drones for surveillance in natural disasters in Caucasian region:

Overview: Drones can be used as part of an automated data collection system to provide real-time

Applications of drones:

According to the European Drones Outlook study (Undertaking, 2016), the use of drones is expected
to drastically increase over the next 30 years in the agriculture, energy , public safety, security, e-
commerce and transport sectors. The use of drones to acquire multispectral images for the purpose
of measuring ground difference in agriculture has also been proposed (Chrostopher, et.al., 2016).
Drone systems are capable of delivering functionalities such as surveillance and reconnaissance,
monitoring, mapping and photogrammetry and automatic fault detection (Hassanalian and
Abdelkefi, 2017). Other areas included are the utilisation of drones for surveillance. There are a
number of instances in which drones have successfully been used for surveillance. Some of these
include inspection of (Besada, et.al. 2018):

● Power lines
● Confined spaces
● Wind turbine and crane operations
● Real estate
● Contaminated areas
● Roads

In all of the above instances, the processes for inspection are often expensive, time-consuming,
repetitive, labour-intensive, dangerous and/or require technical expertise. The use of drones for
these reduces risk and improves maintenance.

In this project, we are focusing specifically on the utilisation of drones for surveillance during natural
disasters. Drones have been used widely by a number of countries and across different natural
disasters. Examples of these include (Ciobanu, 2018):

● Wildfires in California in 2016 - Drones used to identify where wildfire was progressing
rapidly and also locate survivors and deploy support
● Hurricane in Texas in 2017 - Drones used to assess flood damage, identify survivors that
required help and predict areas of future flood risk
● Earthquake in Mexico city in 2017 - Drones used to provide a map of the district hit and
highlight buildings that sustained major damage to assist with reconstruction efforts

Funding of the project:

Target is for Caucasus governments to fund this project.

Technology Considerations:

The following are aspects that the organisation needs to take into consideration regarding drone
technology:

Target market for the service: The target market for the service is Caucasus region.

Marketing Strategy: -> Blanca

According to an article by Markets and Markets (2019), the drone services market was estimated at
$4.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $63.6 billion by 2025. The article further explains that
the reasons for the expected growth are related to the expected “use of drone services for industry-
specific solutions, improvised regulatory framework,and increased requirement for qualitative data
in various industries.” The remote sensing segment which is utilised in disaster risk management and
mitigation, which is what we are focusing on for this project, is expected to grow the most for the
period up until 2025.

- Door to door meeting with rescuing authorities

- Web page to offer our services-> online technig service for the theoretical part of the
training

History of Natural disasters in Caucasus region:

Baku earthquake (2000)

Baku earthquake (2000) - One of the most powerful earthquakes took place in the last hundred
years in the history of Azerbaijan on 25th November 2000. The earthquake was felt at 6.8 magnitude
in Baku at 21:30. Epicenter of the earthquake was in the Caspian Sea sector of Azerbaijan. Horrible
tires hit 22 seconds with two waves. According to the report, 30 people were killed. Although
earthquakes hit some buildings, there were no serious damages. Former Soviet buildings in Baku
have been hit by severe earthquakes. The magnitudes of earthquakes were recorded. This
earthquake has created a shock effect among people.

Kur flood (2010)

There was large-scale flooding in Azerbaijan's Aran zone in May 2010. The areas along the river bank
of Salyan, Sabirabad, Saatli, Hajigabul, Shirvan, Imishli and Kurdamir regions have been flooded. In
the eastern part of the country, Kura flooded Shirvan and destroyed the Bayramli settlement.
Fortunately, human losses have not been recorded. Approximately 50,000 hectares of land and
more than 20,000 homes were flooded. More than 300 homes have been completely destroyed.
With over 10,000 hectares of sowing areas and pastures flooded, the farm has been heavily
damaged. Ten thousand people left their homes and they were settled in tents.

Zaqatala earthquake (May 2012)

Magnitude 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Zagatala region in north-eastern Azerbaijan on May 7,

2012. As a result, 30 people were wounded, though not dead. Some houses collapsed. An
earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale in the epicenter 17 km south-west of the Zaqatala
district occurred at 9:40 am Baku time on May 7, 2012. Relevant firefighters of the Ministry of
Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan were sent to the scene of the quake, and on May 8, 2012 the
Minister of Emergency Situations, Colonel-General Kamaladdin Heydarov arrived at the scene and
inspected the earthquake zone with local executive officials. The operative headquarters of the
Ministry of Emergency Situations was also set up in Zaqatala, Balakan and Gakh districts.

Conclusion and recommendations:

Based on provided data regarding natural disasters, required budget and benefits that to be
achieved, it is feasible to initiate drone surveillance and rescue systems in the Caucasus region.

The high-level project phases and deliverables are summarized below:

· Planning: This is where planning processes are applied to determine work activities required
to complete the project and reach project objectives. The project management plan will be
developed and redeveloped as required.

· Executing: This is where actions are required for project completion. Relevant role players
will be co-ordinated, stakeholders’ expectations will be managed and activities will be integrated
and performed as per project plan delivered.

· Monitoring and Controlling: This involves monitoring and controlling the project work as
well as performing integrated change control. The risk plan change logs and performance
reports will be delivered.

· Closing: This involves closing the project. Handover, final reports and lessons learned will be
delivered.

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