07 March 2019

SOUTH KOREA - South Korea’s largest telco, KT, has unveiled a next-generation platform for disaster and safety management, in its latest effort to pioneer new businesses with its 5G and comms technologies.

The SKYSHIP platform features a special aircraft and a mobile communication centre to remotely control drones and robots that carry out search and rescue operations.

Called SKYSHIP, the platform operates a special aircraft and a mobile communication centre to remotely control drones and robots that carry out search and rescue operations. Teams on the ground are also assisted with AR glasses that have a direct line of communication to doctors at nearby hospitals.

The system comprises a new concept aircraft that combines a helium gas-filled airship and a drone; the Skyship C3 (command, control, communication) mobile ground control station; along with drones and robots that have been specially developed and are installed on the aircraft.

The Skyship aircraft itself features a pod that carries core hardware items including propellants, cameras, network modules and drones, along with a signal scanner. This detects smartphone signals and synchronises them with the mobile carriers’ customer database to identify personal information relating to survivors.

KT said image scanning uses an ultra-small LTE device that can check the presence of survivors within a 50 metre radius. When survivors are detected, Skyship will deploy drones to pinpoint their exact locations. Robots will then be dispatched on the ground to deliver emergency relief items, relay information to rescuers, and take first-aid measures until medical teams arrive. The operator added that if signal scanning is integrated with national registration and medical databases, it could expedite first aid treatment by immediately providing the survivor’s medical records which containing key information such as blood type and pre-existing health conditions.