Aid FROM THE air: A REVIEW OF DRONE USE IN THE RCRC GLOBAL NETWORK Faine Greenwood, Dan Joseph Aug 14, 2020 Contents Introduction 1 Background 3 What IS A drone?...............................................3 How DRONES ARE USED IN DISASTER RESPONSE TODAY............................4 Regulatory CONSIDERATIONS.........................................7 Ethical CONSIDERATIONS............................................8 Summary OF fiNDINGS 10 Timeline OF DRONE USE 12 2013...................................................... 12 2014...................................................... 12 2015...................................................... 13 2016...................................................... 14 2017...................................................... 15 2018...................................................... 16 2019...................................................... 17 2020...................................................... 18 Drone ACTIVITIES IN THE NETWORK 20 American Red Cross............................................. 20 AustrALIAN Red Cross............................................. 22 Austrian Red Cross.............................................. 22 Belize Red Cross Society.......................................... 22 BrAZILIAN Red Cross............................................. 23 The Canadian Red Cross Society...................................... 24 Colombian Red Cross Society........................................ 24 Ecuadorian Red Cross............................................ 24 Fiji Red Cross Society............................................ 26 German Red Cross.............................................. 26 Indonesian Red Cross Society....................................... 26 International CommitTEE OF THE Red Cross (ICRC)............................ 27 Italian Red Cross............................................... 29 Kenya Red Cross Society.......................................... 29 Korean Red Cross.............................................. 30 Lesotho Red Cross Society......................................... 31 Malawi Red Cross Society.......................................... 31 Mexican Red Cross.............................................. 33 The Netherlands Red Cross......................................... 33 New Zealand Red Cross........................................... 34 I Philippine Red Cross............................................. 34 Salvadorean Red Cross Society....................................... 35 Senegalese Red Cross Society....................................... 36 Spanish Red Cross.............................................. 37 The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society...................................... 37 TANZANIA Red Cross National Society.................................... 39 The Uganda Red Cross Society....................................... 39 BenefiTS AND COSTS OF DRONE USE FOR DISASTER RESPONSE 41 The BENEfiTS................................................. 41 The CHALLENGES................................................ 48 What SHOULD HAPPEN next? 57 Connecting Red Cross Red Crescent DRONE USERS............................. 57 Creating TRAININGS AND MATERIALS...................................... 57 Promotion OF OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES FOR DRONE OPERATIONS..................... 58 Developing ORGANIZATIONAL STANDARDS FOR DRONE USE........................... 60 Supporting FURTHER RESEARCH INTO HUMANITARIAN DRONE USE....................... 60 Sharing AIRSPACE (and information) SAFELY................................. 61 Developing DRONE LOGISTICS......................................... 62 Developing METHODOLOGIES FOR EFFECTIVE DATA USE............................ 63 Supporting DEVELOPMENT OF humanitarian-friendly DRONE REGULATIONS................. 63 Conclusion 64 About THE Authors 65 Faine Greenwood.............................................. 65 Dan Joseph.................................................. 65 Methods 66 II Introduction YOU CAN CHECK FOR UPDATES TO THIS DOCUMENT AND READ IT ONLINE at: HTtps://americanredcross.github.io/rcrc-drones/ Unmanned AERIAL vehicles, OR drones, HAVE BECOME AN INCREASINGLY COMMON SIGHT IN DISASTER RESPONSE op- ERATIONS AROUND THE world. Small, INEXPENSIVE CONSUMER DRONES EQUIPPED WITH CAMERAS CAN CAPTURE HIGH QUALITY PHOTOGRAPHS AND video, CREATE GEOGRAPHICALLY ACCURATE maps, AND LIVESTREAM FOOTAGE TO MULTIPLE LOCATIONS ON THE ground. Like MANY DISASTER RESPONSE ORganizations, National Red Cross AND Red Crescent (RCRC) Societies AROUND THE WORLD HAVE BEGUN TO EXPERIMENT WITH USING CIVILIAN DRONES TO SUPPORT AND STREAMLINE THEIR ACTIVITIES AND OPERations. However, UP UNTIL now, LITTLE INFORMATION EXISTED THAT ATTEMPTED TO DESCRIBE OR QUANTIFY HOW MANY RCRC Societies WERE USING drones, OR WHAT THEY WERE USING DRONES for. This RESEARCH PROJECT IS INTENDED TO ADDRESS THIS KNOWLEDGE gap. Our RESEARCH WAS CARRIED OUT USING A MIXED METHODS approach, INCLUDING INQUIRY WITHIN THE RCRC network, SEARCH ENGINE QUERIES USING SPECIfiC SEARCH strings, AND 16 TELEPHONE OR WRITTEN INTERVIEWS WITH RCRC DRONE users. The FOLLOWING REPORT IS INTENDED TO SUMMARIZE OUR findings: IT IS OUR HOPE THAT IT WILL FUNCTION AS A USEFUL SOURCE OF INFORMATION THAT WILL INFORM FUTURE DRONE STRATEGY WITHIN THE RCRC network. The REPORT fiRST PROVIDES A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF WHAT DRONES ARE AND WHAT THEY ARE USED FOR IN THE DISASTER RESPONSE sector. It WILL THEN LIST ALL USES OF DRONE TECHNOLOGY BY National Red Cross AND Red Crescent Societies, THE Inter- NATIONAL FederATION OF Red Cross AND Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), AND THE International CommitTEE OF THE Red Cross (ICRC) THAT WE WERE ABLE TO IDENTIFy, ALONGSIDE BRIEF SUMMARIES OF THEIR ACTIVITIES AND in- tentions. The DISCUSSION PORTION OF THIS paper, DRAWING PRIMARILY FROM INTERVIEW sources, DESCRIBES SOME OF THE BENEfiTS AND SOME OF THE COSTS OF USING DRONE TECHNOLOGY FOR RCRC NETWORK activities. Finally, WE WILL PUT FORTH SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW THE RCRC NETWORK MIGHT PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR CURRENT OR ASPIRING DRONE USERS AMONGST THEIR members. 1 Fig. 1: The VIEW FROM A DRONE TAKING OFF TO MAP IN Canaan, Haiti. | Credit: Dan Joseph, American Red Cross. 2 Background • What IS A drone? • How DRONES ARE USED IN DISASTER RESPONSE TODAY • Regulatory CONSIDERATIONS • Ethical CONSIDERATIONS What IS A drone? The WORD “DRONE” IS A COLLOQUIAL TERM THAT REFERS GENERALLY TO A PILOTLESS AIRCRaft, OFTEN CONTROLLED REMOTELY AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF SMALL COMPUTERS AND sensors. The VAST MAJORITY OF DRONES USED IN AID AND de- VELOPMENT CONTEXTS ARE VERY SMALL AND INEXPENSIVE AIRCRaft, DESIGNED SPECIfiCALLY FOR HOBBY AND GENERALLY non-military purposes. These SMALL DRONES USUALLY WEIGH UNDER 55 POUNDS (with MANY POPULAR MODELS WEIGHING UNDER 10 lbs) AND CAN EASILY BE PURCHASED FROM A VARIETY OF RETAILERS AROUND THE world. Drones WITHIN THIS small, CIVILIAN CATEGORY FALL BROADLY INTO TWO categories: “MULTIROTOR” STYLE DRONES THAT RESEMBLE helicopters, AND “fiXED WING” DRONES THAT RESEMBLE remote-controlled airplanes. The VAST MAJORITY OF THE DRONES USED BY THE National Societies DESCRIBED IN THIS STUDY ARE small, consumer- FOCUSED “QUADCOPTER” STYLE DRONES (multirotor DRONES WITH 4 propellars); THESE DEVICES ARE LARGELY manu- FACTURED BY Chinese drone-maker DJI, WHICH SELLS ITS PRODUCTS AROUND THE world. These CONSUMER DRONES ARE INEXPENSIVE (often RETAILING FOR LESS THAN $2,000), REQUIRE LITTLE SPECIALIZED SKILL TO fly, AND ARE GENERALLY reliable, MAKING THEM A POPULAR CHOICE AMONGST USERS WITH LESS TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE WITH MODEL aviation. They CARRY high-resolution CAMERAS THAT ARE CAPABLE OF COLLECTING BOTH PHOTOGRAPHS AND video. The DRONES ARE EQUIPPED WITH GPS RECEIVERS THAT ALLOW THE DRONE TO KNOW WHERE IT IS IN SPACE AND FOLLOW PREDEfiNED flIGHT PATHS DRAWN BY THE user. Modern MULTIROTOR DRONES USE GPS TO ASSIGN GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES TO EACH AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH THAT THEY take. These AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS CAN THEN BE COMBINED USING SPECIALIZED SOFTWARE TO CREATE HIGHLY ACCURATE MAPS (orthomosaics) AND 3D models. While “DELIVERY DRONES” ARE A HOT TOPIC IN THE TECH WORLD today, THEY REMAIN LARGELY EXPERIMENTAL FOR A NUMBER OF TECHNICAL AND REGULATORY reasons. This WAS REflECTED IN OUR REPORT findings. No National Society DESCRIBED IN THIS STUDY REPORTED USING DRONES FOR DELIVERY purposes, ALTHOUGH SOME INDIVIDUALS INTERVIEWED EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THE FUTURE PROSPECT OF DOING so. 3 Fig. 2: PMI TEAM PREPARES A DJI Phantom FOR launch. | Credit: PMI. How DRONES ARE USED IN DISASTER RESPONSE TODAY Small, CIVILIAN DRONES HAVE BEEN USED TO COLLECT DATA FOR HUMANITARIAN AND DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES SINCE AT LEAST April OF 2000, WHEN Japanese GOVERNMENT RESEARCHERS USED A sensor-equipped YAMAHA RMAX HELICOPTER DRONE TO COLLECT INFORMATION ON THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION OF Mt. Usu.1 In September 2005, THE Center FOR Robot-Assisted Search AND Rescue (CRASAR) USED BOTH A fixed-wing DRONE AND A MINIATURE helicopter-style DRONE TO SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS IN THE U.S. South AFTER Hurricane Katrina, IN ONE OF THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF OPERATIONAL DRONE USE DURING A disaster.2 While DRONES DEMONSTRATED CONSIDERABLE PROMISE IN THESE EARLY DISASTER RESPONSE DEPLOYMENTS OF THE technology, THEY WOULD NOT BECOME TRULY EASY TO use, WIDELY available, OR LEGAL TO USE IN MOST COUNTRIES UNTIL THE LATE 2010s. The 2013 INTRODUCTION OF THE DJI Phantom DRONE AND THE GROWING POPULARITY OF THE DIY DRONE BUILDING HOBBY COMBINED TO LAUNCH DRONES INTO THE MAINSTREAM AROUND THE world. Drone FOOTAGE SHOT BY DISASTER RESPONDERS AFTER TYPHOON Haiyan STRUCK