Software enabling video camera-equipped model helicopters to be controlled via WiMAX android tablet computers and cell phones during search and rescue missions was unveiled July 13 by Taipei-based Tatung University.
“The remote-controlled helicopters can easily gain access to disaster sites that otherwise might be difficult for rescue workers to enter,” Dean of Tatung R&D Hsu Chau-yun said.
“This gives emergency personnel a real-time look at the situation on the ground, enabling them to plan out more effective rescue strategies, as well as to better ensure their own safety in conducting such operations,” Hsu added.
The Taipei-based university has been a pioneer in Taiwan in adopting wireless Internet technology, spending roughly NT$12 million (US$415,280) to launch the country’s first WiMAX campus network in 2009.
In 2010, the university purchased five German-made remote-controlled model helicopters equipped with video cameras and successfully converted them from their original Wi-Fi to enable them to receive WiMAX signals.
“This modification extended the helicopters’ monitoring range from just 50 meters to nearly 3 kilometers,” Hsu said.
The university said the new system would initially be used for campus safety patrols, allowing security guards to monitor the school grounds from a control room and respond quickly to any emergency. (SB)