WASHINGTON, DC — ATIS today announced release of a report covering how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or “drones” can be used to restore communications following a disaster. Functioning communications infrastructure is essential to coordinating emergency and recovery operations, rebuilding and allowing the public to contact rescue services as well as family and friends. Designed for emergency planners and disaster recovery organizations, Use of UAVs for Restoring Communications in Emergency Situations captures both the planning and operational aspects of using UAVs to help restore the services critical to so many post-disaster functions.
“Experience shows that the effort that goes into advanced planning significantly improves the speed and quality of the recovery process,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “Considerations presented in this report can help to restore coverage more quickly — whether the outage is caused by non-functioning individual cell sites or wide-spread damage to infrastructure.”
Recently, it has become possible to carry telecommunications equipment on UAVs, allowing them to act as “flying cell sites.” UAV-hosted cell sites can be made ultra-portable which allows them to be deployed quickly and conveniently for temporary coverage, giving them a role to play until more permanent solutions are deployed. In addition to hosting cell sites, UAVs have other roles to play in communications service recovery including inspection of infrastructure for damage.
Access Use of UAVs for Restoring Communications in Emergency Situations in the ATIS White Paper Center.
About ATIS
As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industry’s business priorities. ATIS’ 150 member companies are currently working to address 5G, robocall mitigation, Smart Cities, artificial intelligence-enabled networks, distributed ledger/blockchain technology, cybersecurity, IoT, emergency services, quality of service, billing support, operations, and much more. These priorities follow a fast-track development lifecycle – from design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing.
ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit www.atis.org. Follow ATIS on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
