PREDICATE will deliver clear and easy to use methodologies for the selection and use of UAS in watch-keeping and patrolling of disaster-prone RoI.

Needs Assessment 

This task aims at developing a methodology that can be used to produce a thorough needs assessment procedure for the use of UAS platforms in civil protection. This methodology can be used to guide authorities and organization (i.e., end-users) in setting correct specifications for the selection and use of UAS platforms. To do so, this task is subdivided in three main actions where the end-user needs are prescribed, the key quality indicators are identified, and finally the needs assessment procedure is developed. 

Technology Review 

The aim of this task is to develop the necessary procedures that will support the selection of the right UAS platforms. Doing so will enable non-technical authorities/ organizations to better express their needs in a technical manner. The whole process will help reduce the gap between non-technical authorities/ organizations and relevant technical parties on the favorable features of UAS technology. This will assist in building a more technical picture of the needs and wants, help to better assess the costs and benefits in the use of UAS and aid UAS selection. To that end, the end-user requirements will be first translated to technical specifications and then matched against the available technologies.

Path Planning 

This task will develop a path planning toolkit based on the end-user needs prescribed in action item B.1. In this way, the various identified watch-keeping and patrolling strategies would be realized with the ultimate goal of monitoring disaster-prone ROI. To that end, the various functional features will first be extracted from the end-user needs. Subsequently an algorithmic solution will be developed for generating efficient flight plans. The intention is to develop this toolkit as an application for mobile devices for portability and convenience of use. 

Prototype/Testing/Demo 

This task will implement a prototype of the path planning toolkit in one of the available UAS platforms. The methodologies developed in tasks B and C will be used to choose the prototyping platform. Doing so will put the developed methodological procedures into practice and demonstrate their applicability. The implemented path planning toolkit will be tested in toy scenarios and then demonstrated to the end-user partners. Finally the toolkit will be handed over to end-user partners to use on their own and enable them to provide feedback.