Dubai Police, jointly with NNTC and SPH Engineering, unveiled a drone control system prototype for its control center on October 16, as part of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Forum 2017 held in Dubai (UAE). The solution will help city services faster respond to emergency and contribute to a secure city environment. First remotely controlled drones will fly in Dubai as soon as January 2018.
To support the Dubai Poliсе’s initiative, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority will issue licenses for remotely-controlled drones and their operators.
“Dubai Police expects to have first drones in police vehicles and their own trained operators by February 2018. We are looking forward to continuing the project development and want the drones to deliver light cargos, such as first aid kits, to emergency areas and to make police audio announcements in the nearest future,” said Brigadier Eng. Kamel Buti Al Suwaidi, Director of General Department of Operations, Dubai Police.
As early as in 2018, a police officer who cannot access an accident scene for any reason(fire in a high-rise building, traffic jam, hard-to-reach city district) will be able to fly a drone and transmit live video from it to the control center, with the drones used in the project being able to go as high as 500 meters and broadcast live video for up to 40 minutes. Having received both alert and drone video footage, the control center can better respond to the incident, involve the required number of city service specialists (fire department, ambulance, etc.), monitor the situation, and promptly address any issues as they arise.
SPH Engineering developed the drone control system prototype for the Dubai Police control center and demonstration at UAS Forum 2017. Being an official and experienced reseller of SPH Engineering’s UgCS, NNTC will provide all support and services directly in Dubai (UAE). On October 17 Dubai Police and NNTC signed memorandum of understanding for two years of further cooperation.
“We are honored to be a part of such an important social initiative of Dubai Police and make something that may eventually help save lives. Since the technical design had to be flawless, we were happy to have SPH Engineering by our side as a reliable partner and vendor of unique battle-proven solutions,” noted Basak Guler, Regional Manager, NNTC.
“A key element of the solution, Universal Ground Control Software (UgCS) by SPH Engineering, automates the duties of drone operators on any level, both in the field and the control center, with a flexible architecture allowing for easy integration with existing control center software,” said Janis Kuze, Sales Director, SPH Engineering.
