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Saab Denmark wins Disaster Competition

Relief operations usually take place under extreme conditions in areas with shattered local infrastructure.

During the last few months, the innovation competition ’Communication in Disasters’ has encouraged Danish companies to develop technological solutions to some of the problems facing the relief organisations in disaster areas.

On Friday, 5 January 2007 the Danish Minister of Science, Helge Sander, proclaimed the winner of the competition: Saab Denmark’s system Tacticall, which is able to create an overview and communication infrastructure in areas where traditional communication channels are not applicable.

Everybody can communicate with each other

Saab Denmark’s solution connects different forms of communication and transforms the signals to digital format, so that sender and recipient can always connect. The relief worker can stand in a mountainous area with a VHF radio but still be able to communicate with a mobile phone in headquarters without having to think of how.

”All types of communication are interconnected. We use the strengths of each type of communication and connect them based on the lowest common denominator under the prevailing conditions. Then you are sure to connect to the rest of the world. The field officer will operate as usual, but in reality he has more communication channels at his disposal than before,” explains Henning Christensen, head of division in Saab Denmark.

Cheap and life saving

According to Relief Director, Erik Johnson , DanChurchAid, a large number of requirements must be met before the communication equipment can be operational in the field.

”One of the biggest challenges of the relief agencies in a disaster situation is, that there is never enough money. Therefore, communication equipment must be cheap. And easy to operate and transport,” says Erik Johnson, who was member of the committee of judges.

”And it must save lives. Otherwise we will not spend time on it,” he adds.

Henning Christensen, Saab Denmark is confident that the new Tacticall system meets all the requirements.

The system costs approx. DKK 150,000 (approx. EUR 20,130). The relief worker can still use the well-known communication equipment such as mobile phone, motorola or satellite phone.

And the box transforming the signals for the different systems to communicate is the size of a shoe box. The system will be tested in the real world and adjusted accordingly.

Creates overview

Five companies participated in the final part of the innovation competition which was arranged by Mobile Systems at Aalborg University, Denmark, in cooperation with DanChurchAid, Danish Red Cross and Danish Refugee Council. After thorough deliberations Saab Denmark’s Tacticall was selected as winner, because to a large degree it will ease the work of the relief worker, says Claus Olsen, IT Director, Danish Red Cross, and member of the committee of judges.

”Saab Denmark’s software can provide an overview of a disaster area just like the GIS systems. In the individual areas, experts can assess the need for different types of assistance and communicate this directly to the suppliers through this system. Thus the total need e.g. within basic health care, logistics etc. can be received and acted upon very fast. Before, this kind of information was managed manually on laminated maps,” says Claus Olsen, who has worked in disaster areas.

”After the tsunami two years ago I was relief worker in Indonesia, where the disaster covered a very large geographical area. We needed equipment that could help us to get an overview of the damages, the relief operation areas etc., but the local infrastructure was totally destroyed or overtaxed. Today’s winning tool would have been extremely useful in that situation – and probably saved lives,” says Claus Olsen.

Saab Denmark is used to working with systems which must operate under difficult conditions for the military and authorities in the civil emergency preparedness, but they have never before worked for relief organisations.

More information: Relief Director, Erik Johnson ( ejo@dca.dk ), DanChurchAid

By Malene Haakansson ( mah@dca.dk )