IBM-backed project creates Wi-Fi network for natural disasters

Bloomberg

From a cramped living room in Brooklyn, New York, a handful of young computer nerds have developed a new way to use technology to help save lives in natural disasters.
They have designed tiny electronic nodes inside baseball-sized rubber casings that create a special Wi-Fi network spanning more than 100 square miles that can be used to connect victims and first responders. It’s a simple and relatively cheap concept, but during a natural disaster when cell towers topple, technology fails and entire communities fall into darkness – communication can be the difference between life and death.
The five young men met competing against each other at computer hackathons. They joined together to compete in a contest sponsored by International Business Machines Corp. last year called Call for Code, which asked developers to use cloud, artificial intelligence and other technologies to amplify preparedness for natural disasters. Their entry, Project Owl, which stands for Organization, Whereabouts, and Logistics, uses a “clusterduck” network made of hubs that resemble rubber ducks, which can float in flooded areas. Once deployed, civilians are able to get on their cellphone to connect with first responders. Emergency workers are also able to learn about weather and get information data analytics through the cloud.
The team won the competition, beating over 2,500 global entries, for a $200,000 grand prize. In March, they joined representatives from IBM to deploy the devices, known as DuckLinks, across five regions in Puerto Rico that were devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
“In the worst disasters, chaos and misinformation are pervasive,” said Bryan Knouse, 28, chief executive officer and co-founder of Project Owl. “With better information and better analytics, you can get the resources you need to the places that need it most.” Other members of the team include Charlie Evans, 32, Nick Feuer, 25, Taraqur Rahman, 27, and Magus Pereira, 23.
During the two-week pilot program, Project Owl attached DuckLinks with Velcro to trees in the jungle, perched them atop of sand dunes on beaches, stuck them on car doors and cliff faces and even floated them above buildings in helium balloons. Project Owl managed to create a live internet network across one square mile using 23 DuckLinks, communicating via the system in areas without cell reception.
Once the devices are connected, an emergency Wi-Fi network appears on smartphones directing users to a portal where they can send messages to first responders and civil defense teams. The glue of the network is the Papa Duck, which is a cloud software service connected to all the DuckLinks. The Papa Duck offers a bird’s-eye view of the number of civilians accessing the emergency portal and what they urgently need.