Autonomous long-range Solar Plane for Connectivity to Remote Areas and/or Natural Disaster

CATUOGNO, CARLOS GUSTAVO; GARCIA, GUILLERMO; CATUOGNO, GUILLERMO

New York

Congreso; ICSD 2020; 2020

ICSD

Currently, 90% of natural disasters are caused by climate change. The frequency and intensity of phenomena such as hurricanes, fires, droughts, floods, is becoming a new normal and is worrying.Some of the problems encountered when the aforementioned catastrophes occur are, the lack of access to communication and therefore a large number of people are isolated without knowing their situation and also the lack of access to see what is happening in different locations due to roads without access or fire.In this context, one solution is to have an autonomous flying drone using solar and atmospheric energy to replenish the charge of its batteries and make long-range flights, covering large areas and providing Wi-Fi connectivity in remote areas. and / or natural disaster areas to keep residents who do not have other types of communication systems communicated. The drone-plane would cover pre-established routes at high altitudes (above the clouds), opening communication windows for the different areas through which it travels.It would also have the ability to make reconnaissance flights with cameras installed that would transmit the information live to the control base or to users who are currently connected in the remote area where the drone aircraft is flying, for monitoring disaster areas. climatic, such as floods, fires, etc. In this case, the drone-plane could descend from the cruising flight height to make flights below the clouds in case the situation requires it.The great strength of this communications platform is that when flying at high altitudes and at low speeds, the communication time windows for remote areas are quite large, which would allow users to use WhatsApp or similar communication programs for time. to send and receive messages and offer in the event of natural disasters to users of the Government, Fire, etc., the sending of images in real time at the place of operations, transmitting to the cell phones of users who connect to the aerial platform that flies over the area at that time recording images and video.In this work it is proposed to briefly describe the characteristics of the drone plane, analyze and describe all the possible applications of the same, depending on the types of catastrodes that will determine the methodology and best practices for its best use.Finally, a case study is presented from the province of San Luis on the methodology of using the drone plane to supervise the appearance of a New River (Cuenca del Morro) that has caused problems in the geography and inhabitants of the province. from San Luis, Agentina.