News

20-23/11/2019-Cyprus Civil Defence exercise @Purnara

SWIFTERS participated an exercise organised by the Cyprus Civil Defence at Pournara Camp in Cyprus. The scenario of the exercise assumed extreme weather events in the area (strong wind and heavy rain), which have resulted in the area being flooded. Civil Defense was activated and the evacuation of the site was decided, with the implementation of the SWIFTERS system. During the exercise, six UAVs (2 DJI M200, 1 mavic and 2 UAVs provided by DLR) where instructed via the intergrated SWIFTERS platform and the developed algorithms to scan the area and identify people. Cyprus Civil Defence gained situational awareness via the live-stream video of the six UAVS at all times, while the people detected where geotagged on the map. The participants had the chance to experience and get training on how to use the SWIFTERS platform. Additionally, they provided feedback, commented on importance and the usefulness of this platform for emergency response and shared their vision for expanding the platform to more tasks and utilising it for more applications.

29-31/10/2019 - Mediterranean Security Event 2019@GREECE

SWIFTERS co-organized the MSE2019 conference, which was held at Heraklion-Crete, Greece on the 29th-31st of October, 2019. SWIFTERS participatd actively in MSE and organised a workshop on UAV swarms, performed a live exercise, and demonstrations of how the SWIFTERS platform can be utilised in emergency response.

The SWIFTERS workshop included talks on the UAV Regulatory Framework by the Hellenic Police – Drone Division and on and how UAVs can be used for Mapping and 3D Reconstruction by KEMEA. Additionally, the Hellenic Fire Service and the Hellenic Army discussed the first responder’s needs and KIOS CoE presented how these needs are being addressed via the SWIFTERS platform.

A live demonstration of the SWIFTERS platform took place with three UAVs on a search and rescue scenario. During the deomnstration the three UAVS were instructed via the platform to monitor a specific area in the conference venue to detect people and vehicles. The participants had the chance to experience and get training on how to use the SWIFTERS platform. Additionally, they provided feedback, commented on importance and the usefulness of this platform for emergency response and shared their vision for expanding the platform to more tasks and utilising it for more applications.

17-19/07/2019 - 4th PROJECT MEETING @DLR, MUNICH, GERMANY

The 4th SWIFTERS project meeting took place at the 17th to the 19th of July at DLR in Munch Germany. During the meeting the project partners had the change to discuss on the progress of the project. Most importantly, the technical parters undertook important steps towards the integration of the SWIFTRS platform, the end-users provided feedback on the implemented platform and all partners discussed the logistics and outcomes of the final demo of the project.

During the meeting, a testing session was organised by DLR to demonstrate the work undertaken towards implementation of an autonomous UAV swarm. Additionally, KIOS and DLR collaboratively tested and sucessfully demonstrated the outcomes of the integration steps undertaken. The project partners disucssed and setup the plan for the full integration of the work undetaken by the technical partners.

30/05/2019 - EXERCISE "ARGONAUT @LARNACA, CYPRUS"

A large-scale international maritime Search & Rescue exercise under the code name "ARGONAUT" took place on the 30th of May at Larnaca, Cyprus. The exercise was coordinatd by the Cyprus Minstery of Defence in cooperation with the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs and wsa observed by a large number of foreign army officer and members of the diplomatic corps.

SWIFTERS participated in the exercise with KIOS researchers. During the exercise, a swarm of drones was instructed via the SWIFTERS UAV swam platform to monitor the area near the Larnaca Port. The live video feeds of the drones were transmitted via the SWIFTERS platform and object detection algorithms were tested. Additionally, the video captured via the SWIFTERS platform was live-streamed over the internet to allow interested parties to observe the evolution of the exercise.

18/04/2019 - EXERCISE "ALKAIOS II" @ Mytilene, Greece

A large-scale interdepartmental Exercise under the code name "ALKAIOS II" took place on the 18th of April in the port of Mytilne. The exercise was coordinatd by the Northern Aegean Regional Government and was attended by 17 bodies, 131 persons, 28 all types of vehicles, of which 3 ambulances and 6 motorcycles of ELAS and the Coast Guard. The purpose of the exercise was test the co-ordination and co-operation of actors involved to deal with large-scale maritime accidents (including environmental impact of oil spills), as well as to enhance the sense of security of the island's residents and visitors, particularly in view of the tourist season.

SWIFTERS participated in the exercise with KIOS and KEMEA researchers. During the exercise, a swarm of drones was instructed via the SWIFTERS UAV swam platform (tested for the first time in a full scale exercise) to monitor the accident. The live video feeds of the drones were transmitted via the SWIFTERS platform to the coordination center to provide situational awareness. Additionally, the SWIFTERS platform was used to search and detect people, boats and vehicles.

The success of the exercise was reported on the local news, with emphasis on the use of drones. "The exercise was conducted with absolute success. For the first time, drones were utilised for search and rescue, and live video from the drones was transmitted to the CPGC room for more effective co-ordination of all involved in the excercised."

20-22/03/2019 - SWIFTERS PROJECT MEETING @ Athens, Greece

All the parterns of the project attended the 3rd DG ECHO SWIFTERS meeting which was held in Athens, Greece between 20 and 22 of March. During the meeting the partners discussed the project progress and received updates on the tasks and deliverables. The end-users informed the consortium about any events and exercises they attended in their countries. The technical partners of the project presented the latest updates on the platform and received feed-back from the end users.

An exersice was organised by KEMEA as part of the meeting. The exercise was focused on presenting the work underteken by SWIFTERS and the latest updates of the project. The exercise was attended by more than 30 people, including the SWIFTERS project parterns as well as members of the Athens Police and other local authorities. During the exercise a swarm of four drones was instructed via the SWIFTERS UAV swam platform to monitor the area to search and detect people and vehicles. Live feed was provided by all the drones via the platform and the peoples and vehicles detected were marked on the map of the platform. The parterns of the project had the chance to get experiene and familiarise themselves with the platform which is being developed for the purposes of the project in action and provide feedback. The screen recording of the UAV Swarm platform is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enXGfpi0maw. This exercise was also a geat disemmination opportunitiy utilised to present the work underaken in DG ECHO SWIFTERS.

13/02/2019 - Visit from Cypriot High schools

The software platform developed for the purposes of the SWIFTERS project was demonstrated at a series of visits from local schools, including the Engkomis and Makedonitissas high schools from Nicosia, Cyprus.

During the visits, the students were informed about the SWIFTERS project and how a swarm of drones can by utilized by first respondents in emergency situations. Additionally, a live demo of the platform was performed with for DJI SPARK drones.

05 - 06/12/2018 - SRE 2018 @ Brussels

SWIFTERS representatives attended the Security Research Event 2018, organized by the European Commission and the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology. Under the theme "Making Europe a safer place: demonstrating the impact of EU-funded security research", SRE 2018 demonstrated the strength and inspiring results of security-related research and innovation activities and how these positively contribute to the work being conducted on a daily basis by thousands of security practitioners. During SRE 2018 SWIFTERS representative had the opportunity to share the work undertaken at SWIFTERS and to communicate how UAVs swarm can assist security practitioners in emergency response.

04/12/2018 - SAYSO 2nd Public Workshop" @ Brussels

SWIFTERS participated at the 2nd "Standardization of Situational Awareness Systems to strengthen Operations in civil protection (SAYSO)" Public Workshop. The event was focused on presenting the results of the SAYSO's requirements collection for EU practitioners' systems, tools and functionalities. The participants provided feedback on the SAYSO specifications of Situational Awareness tools to better matching the actual needs of civil protection practitioners and emergency responders. Most importantly, the SWIFTERS representatives demonsrated the benefit from EU-funded Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP).

04/12/2018 - Exercise "Promytheas" @Nicossia, Cyprus

SWIFTERS participated at the "Promytheas 2018" exercise organised by the Minitstry of Interior Cyprus and the Civil Denfence Cyprus. The exercise was focused on testing readiness for extreme weather incidents and particularly floodings. The Minister of Interior, the Director of the Ministry of Interior and representatives of the local auhorities, the Cyprus Fire Service and the Electricity Autority Cyprus attended the exercise.

SWIFTERS participated with a swarm of four drones providing live video feed during the exercise. Additionally, SWIFTERS demonstrated and tested the swarm of drones platform. A swarm of drones was instructed via the developed platform to search the area while providing live video feed and detecting people at the same time. The exercise was coved by the local news papers and Tv channels.

12/06/2018 - "Norman Village Evacuation and Rescue" Exercise  @Sardegna

SWIFTERS has successfully participated in the the wild fire forest evacuation exercise that took place at the village of Norman in the municipality of Gonessa. Norman is a fire-prone village particularly in days with high temperature. The objective of the exercise was to rescue two citizens that followed the wrong path during the evacuation. During the exercise the firefighter teams worked to extinguish the fire while drones flied over the area to locate the lost people as well as to verify any eventual fire outbreaks.

More than 30 people participated in the exercise including the APR team, firefighter volunteers from the ADVAG Gonnesa, Soccorso Ingesias and Shardana Gonessa volunteering associations as well as governmental representatives.

12/06/2018 - "Rescue At Sea" Exercise  @Sardegna

SWIFTERS has successfully participated in the the "Rescue at the Sea" exercise that took place at Pagemesu - Gonessa beach near Cagliari. The objective of the exercise was to rescue a swimmer who has ventured beyond the safety zone using "Beach and Sea" an integrated rescue system with smart mini lifeguard towers which citizens can use to signal emergencies. The success of the exercise required the cooperation of lifeguards, rescuers, volunteers and the use of drones. More than 30 people participated in the exercise including the SO.SA.GO APR team, lifeguards, medical units as well as governmental representatives.

27/05/2018 - Maritime search and rescue drill "ARGONAUT"

On the 27th of May 2018 SWIFTERS has participated in the international maritime search and rescue and non-combatant evacuation exercise ARGONAUT. Argonaut, which took place in Cyprus, kicked off on May 27 and was concluded on June 2. Argonaut aimed to increase interoperability by developing individual and collective maritime proficiencies of the participating countries being: Cyprus, Greece, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary, and the U.S. .Israel did not participate, however sent representatives to observe the exercise.

SWIFTERS took part in the exercise with a fleet of two UAS. One of the UAS was equipped with a thermal camera and the other one with a HD camera. The UAVs were used to continuously monitor the region and live stream the video on Youtube. The participants of the exercise had the change to watch the live steaming of the exercise captured by the UAVs via a privately shared URL.

Members of the SWIFTERS project had the chance to inform the representatives of all the countries, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, for the work undertaken and the goals of the project.

22/04/2018 - "DG ECHO AMC" 2018 @CYPRUS

On the 22nd of April 2018 SWIFTERS has participated in DG ECHO AMC: a training module of the Union's Civil Protection Mechanism Training Programme. The use of UAS for mission assessment as part of the Civil Protection Mechanism Training Programme has first been established by the partners of PREDICATE ( a 2015-2017 project initiated by some of the SWIFTERS partners which indicated the great potentials of UAVs in emergency management ), in collaboration the coordinator of the course THW .

On the 22nd of April DG ECHO AMC training, 20 trainees of various backgrounds and nationalities received training on using UAS for emergency management and mission assessment. During the training the work currently undertaken by SWIFTERS was presented and communicated to all the attendees.

20/04/2018 - "LELLAPA" 2018 FIRE DRILL @CYPRUS

On the 20th of April, SWIFTERS has successfully participated in the “Lellapa” 2018 fire drill. The drill took place in the area between the mountain villages Stavrokonnou and Mammoniwn in Cyprus. The drill saw the involvement and collaboration of multiple emergency response departments in Cyprus including the Fire Service, Forestry Department, the non-profit Emergency Response Unit, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Command Centre.

SWIFTERS particpated in the “Lellapa” 2018 fire drill with a Matrice 600 drone which assisted the Coordination Center of the drill by providing live and continuous monitoring of the region and the fire. Also, SWIFTERS tested a "release" mechanism, which enables the drone to carry and deliver a package to a given destination.

28/03/2018 - "EGGELADOS" 2018 EARTHQUAKE DRILL @CYPRUS

SWIFTERS has successfully participated in the “Eggelados” 2018 earthquake drill (28th Mar 2018). A fleet of two UAS was used to continuously monitor the region and live stream the images to people on the ground. One of the UAS was equipped with a thermal camera and the other one with a HD camera and a high power LED.

More than 50 members of the Cyprus Civil Defence participated in this exercise, in addition to representatives of other governmental agencies and first responders from Greece and Israel.

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