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THE EAGLE EYE

AN AUTONOMOUS DRONE TO IMPROVE THE DAILY LIFE OF RESCUERS IN MOUNTAINS.

As my last student project at school, my role was to co-lead the project during 5 months. The brief was to bring a support on the field to the civil protection organisations with a drone. First, we started some researches on the different fields of the civil protection to reach the the ones with needs. we decided to choose the mountain field because of their dangerousness level and lack of accessibility for rescuers. During the project, we managed to collaborate with rescuers and drone specialists to create a product responding to real needs and close to a real engineered solution.

School project

Lead designers /

Stéphane Pietroiusti & François Baptista

Designer /

Manon Gérard

Digital designer /

David Plachez & Grégoire Lauwers

Year /

2014

Status /

Concept

The mountain, a gigantic area covering more than 25% of the surface on earth. Somptuous landscapes and a variety of activities but also a dangerous and unpredictable natural playground. We wanted to bring an autonomous solution capable of creating a secured area. A flying device acting everywhere against the fire, the avalanche, the natural disasters with a capability of saving lost or injured people. Anticipate and help the rescuers in mountain as a real team member and collecte many data in real-time on the field.

Every year, there are a lot of interventions of rescuers in mountain, most of the time, they take time, are dangerous, expensive and often use a lot of resources by anticipation. Even if sometimes, the victims are alerting the rescuers for superficial problems. The drone will help in this case to anticipate, to help for decisions and to save precious minutes before, during and after each intervention. Furthermore, It will bring a safety feeling to the victims while waiting for the rescuers.

The device is completely self-sufficient, there is no need to pilot it. It helps for decisions with a permanent view anytime on the field. In case of problems, the rescuers can take decisions faster, being more efficient with an undertanding of the situation on the field. It is also a long-term profitability solution, less human losses and less environmental degradation.

TIME IS CRUCIAL

DANGER IS EVERYWHERE

Rescuers and victims

The drone

Ideation process

During the project, we managed to work with rescuers, having direct feedback on our concepts in order to create something tangible for their needs on the field. We also contacted drone makers with the wish to bring something close to a real engineered solution. We merged two architectures of drones, using the wings and the propellers. The drone is able to fly for recognition using less resources thanks to the wings and it is also able to hover during an intervention thanks to the propellers when the rescuers really need it.

The first autonomous mean of recognition and assistance

which facilitates rescuers interventions

Living in the mountains

Thanks to a complete system, the drone is fully autonomous. When the battery is low, it gets redirected to one of the closest solar powered pylon to be recharged. This system allows the drone to cover a huge area according to the number of pylons installed on the field. An efficient way to cover and secure the maximum of surface with only one drone.