ARLA/CLUSTER: Projecto OWL para redes de emergência proposto pela IBM em Porto Rico

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

The Project Owl Pilot: Puerto Rico | Code and Response Deployment Feature
https://youtu.be/d7aAdk87Yv8

Project Owl, the Call for Code 2018 Global Challenge winner, conducted
its first successful large-scale pilot in Puerto Rico, showcasing the
team’s offline communications system in communities still recovering
from Hurricane Maria. The deployment is the first of its kind for the
IBM Code and Response initiative. Join the effort at
http://ibm.biz/Code-and-Response

Project OWL wins inaugural Call for Code challenge

The 2018 Call for Code winner, Project Owl is a hardware and software
solution that simplifies disaster management.

By IBM Developer Staff


________________________________

Project OWL, an IoT and software solution that keeps first responders
and victims connected in a natural disaster, has won the 2018 Call for
Code Global Challenge. A panel of eminent judges that included former
President Bill Clinton awarded the five-person, U.S.-based team the
Call for Code Global Prize at a gala event Monday at San Francisco’s
Regency Ballroom.

The team takes home the USD$200,000 grand prize and the opportunity to
deploy the solution through the IBM Corporate Service Corps, among
other benefits.

“We don’t view this as the finish line for our work but a checkpoint
in a journey,” said Bryan Knouse, Project OWL team lead. “I can’t wait
to get home so we can get back to work on the technology and the
solutions for those who need it most.”

Knouse knew he wanted to develop solutions to help people cope after
natural disasters, but he had trouble finding venture capitalists
willing to invest in these projects. When he learned about Call for
Code, he jumped at the opportunity to get involved and join the
affiliated Slack community.

Sign up for 2019 Call for Code challenge

There, he met a group of like-minded individuals — Magus Pereira,
Nicholas Feuer, Charlie Evans, and Taraqur Rahman — and Project OWL
was born.

The team addresses a fundamental question that arises in the wake of a
natural disaster: How do you maintain critical operations and
communications when the power is cut and cell connectivity fails?

“We really were inspired by the whole hurricane situation in Puerto
Rico,” Feuer said. “All communication was down. It was completely dark
for not just one week, but weeks and into months.”

How it works

Project OWL, which stands for Organization, Whereabouts, and
Logistics, is a two-part hardware/software solution. It provides an
offline communication infrastructure that gives first responders a
simple interface for managing all aspects of a disaster.

The physical “clusterduck” network is made of hubs resembling rubber
ducks, which can float in flooded areas if needed. Only five are
needed to cover a square mile, and they create a mesh network that can
send speech-based communications using conversational systems (like
Alexa and Facebook Messenger) to a central application. This
application, the OWL software incident management system, uses
predictive analytics and multiple data sources to build a dashboard
for first responders.

“Once this network of ducks is deployed and then clustered, civilians
are able to basically get on the devices through a really intuitive
interface and contact first responders with a list of things that are
really essential to them,” Pereira said.

With this information, Project OWL allows first responders to manage a
disaster, coordinate resources, learn about weather patterns and get
information data analytics through the cloud. The solution bakes in
the latest IBM Watson Studio, Watson Cloud APIs, and Weather Company
APIs — all built on the IBM Cloud.

Weather data forms a core part of the application, with the ability to
ask questions like “Which direction is the nearest tropical storm is
headed?” and “What conditions can you expect tomorrow night?” after
hurricane flooding.

“In the worst disasters, chaos and misinformation are pervasive,”
Knouse said. “With better information and better analytics, you can
get the resources you need to the places that need it most. This type
of efficiency can dramatically impact the number of people that can be
saved in a disaster.”

What’s next for the team

The team is working on testing OWL in simulated environments with
response teams. They plan to roll out to small incidents before
deploying in full-scale disasters. Their goal is to focus on regions
where annual weather patterns consistently impact communities
negatively, such as India, China, the Philippines, and parts of the
U.S.

In addition to the cash prize and support from the IBM Corporate
Service Corps, the team members, who hail from New York and North
Carolina, will have the opportunity to pitch OWL to venture capitalist
firm NEA for potential funding.

“Throughout its history, IBM has believed in the ingenuity of curious
people to improve humanity with forward-thinking technology. Moreover,
from driving collaboration on Linux and Java to Kubernetes and
Hyperledger, IBM has strongly believed in the importance of working
openly so that everyone can benefit from the best ideas,” said IBM
Chief Digital Officer Bob Lord. “Today, with the ability to safely
process data at scale using sophisticated tools like AI, cloud,
blockchain, and IoT, developers are unleashing the power of IBM’s open
code to effect change faster, in more places, and in more meaningful
ways than ever before.”

Watch the replay of the Call for Code Global Award Celebration

Daryl Pereira, Kevin Allen and Liz Klipp contributed reporting to this article.