Blogs

On Wednesday, February 29, TIDES team and Camp Roberts participants held the first round of discussions on "Infrastructure as a System."  The original thinking behind this discussed was based as follows:  In the rush to provide basic infrastructure to populations who have been affected by disasters, solutions tend to focus on one type of intervention: shelter, water, sanitation, power, etc.

An all-terrain robot for search-and-rescue missions must be flexible enough to move over uneven surfaces, yet not so big that it is restricted from tight spaces; it might also be required to climb slopes of varying inclines; researchers say the solution would be a search-and-rescue robot which emulates the locomotion of a certain type of flexible, efficient animals: snakes.

 To better understand how emergency responders can leverage social media tools, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is holding the $40,000 CLIQR Quest Challenge.

According to the latest survey by the Persuadable Research Corporation, half of the poll’s respondents believe they are unprepared for a disaster. When asked in further detail why not, 38 percent said preparing for a disaster never crossed their mind, while 48 percent said they lacked the money to prepare and 15 percent said they did not have time. Furthermore 20 percent of those surveyed, said they intended to “just wing it” during a disaster.

First day of Camp Roberts-RELIEF field experiementation brought together a diverse group of interagency and private sector actors to demonstrate and showcase technical solutions to humanitarian assistance/disaster relief efforts. First big draw was the display of Sofcoast aerostat, which was also displayed at AFCEA West at the TIDES booth in January. The aerostat  - combining the qualities of a baloon, a UAV and an airplane - achieved the height of approximately 1000 ft, with 30MPH winds, while having an infrared camera as its chief payload.

  Lockheed Martin’s TRACER is a light weight, low-frequency synthetic-aperture radar that can peer through foliage, rain, darkness, dust storms, or atmospheric haze to provide real-time, high-quality tactical ground imagery; U.S. Southern Command has just deployed the penetrating radar to support the Command’s counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance missions and disaster relief operations.

 One Laptop Per Child tablet is making its debut. The computer is now called the XO 3.0, and will cost $100 instead of the planned $75. The tablet uses a Marvell Armada PXA618 processor, has 512MB RAM and will run either Android or Sugar, OLPC’s kid-friendly Linux.  Like the original, there’s a hand-crank option for charging (this time it’s an optional extra). And now, the peel-off rubberized lid can be had in two flavors: regular and solar.

This interesting infographc shows how much data is uploaded on all major social media sites in just 60 seconds:  http://www.socialjumpstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/60-seconds-social-2.1.jpg

Camps in Western Uganda have been experiencing an influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to a raise in post elections violence. Unfortunately, Ugandan officials do not have the means to cater to the needs of incoming refugees ( shelter, water, sanitation facilities and health). UNHCR is trying to manage the problem read more:  http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94966

 On Tuesday, February 22, TIDES took part in the Domestic Preparedness Workshop organized by the  North American Aerospace Defense Command, US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the US National Guard Bureau. This annual event features a different theme, and this year it was "Communities: The Focus of our Domestic Preparedness." TIDES spoke on the panel discussion on the use and integration of social media into disaster&nb