Shane at Openrelief needs some of Public Laboratories practical solutions

[Stoney]

Shane at Openrelief needs some of Public Laboratories practical low cost solutions.  It is fine for him to have long term loft goals, but he really needs some outreach from Public Laboratories.  I will send him some links, but some outreach would be great.

http://www.designspark.com/content/openrelief-clearing-fog-disaster 

[Shane Coughlan]

Hi Stoney

Our goals at OpenRelief are not exactly long-term. The first drone is mechanically complete, the second will be ready this weekend and shipped to Japan, and our first iterations of the visual code are in our repository. We are moving towards active testing in Japan and the UK between July and December of the airframes, the mission control and the visual recognition. The system is on-target to be deployable by the end of the year.

That said, OpenRelief is not about the drones. It is about having effective solutions to reduce the fog of confusion around disaster situations. Disaster management will always be about eco-systems, about a range of potential solutions to address problems that arise, and hopefully presenting relief workers with the correct options at the correct time. We are kicking off the process by creating sensors and scouting technology that would have been a huge help in a certain scenario, and therefore addressing a specific requirement and a specific type of cost base. There are others. Talking with other projects with similar goals and working together is essential to cover such diversity.

It's good to be in contact, and I hope to learn how systems like Mapknitter may be linked to the workflow for aid agencies. Our baseline here is Sahana Eden, as this has become a de facto norm for large-scale relief efforts since the Asian tsunami, and it is what ties into Red Cross efforts. Software workflows that can feed into that, and which also make use of different hardware for different requirements (balloons, drones, etc), will surely be a good thing. The sole proviso is that OpenRelief is not precisely the same as Public Laboratories. Your focus appears to be on activism and social issues. Ours is on disaster relief. We are walking a complementary path, but there will be some differences in our priorities. No bad thing, but worth keeping in mind.

Shane

[Shane Coughlan]

Hi Stoney

On May 5, 2012, at 12:39 AM, Stoney Vintson wrote:

On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 10:07 AM, Shane Coughlan <shanec...@gmail.com> wrote:

Our goals at OpenRelief are not exactly long-term. The first drone is mechanically complete, the second will be ready this weekend and shipped to Japan, and our first iterations of the visual code are in our repository. We are moving towards active testing in Japan and the UK between July and December of the airframes, the mission control and the visual recognition. The system is on-target to be deployable by the end of the year.

That said, OpenRelief is not about the drones. It is about having effective solutions to reduce the fog of confusion around disaster situations. Disaster management will always be about eco-systems, about a range of potential solutions to address problems that arise, and hopefully presenting relief workers with the correct options at the correct time. We are kicking off the process by creating sensors and scouting technology that would have been a huge help in a certain scenario, and therefore addressing a specific requirement and a specific type of cost base. There are others. Talking with other projects with similar goals and working together is essential to cover such diversity.

It's good to be in contact, and I hope to learn how systems like Mapknitter may be linked to the workflow for aid agencies. Our baseline here is Sahana Eden, as this has become a de facto norm for large-scale relief efforts since the Asian tsunami, and it is what ties into Red Cross efforts. Software workflows that can feed into that, and which also make use of different hardware for different requirements (balloons, drones, etc), will surely be a good thing. The sole proviso is that OpenRelief is not precisely the same as Public Laboratories. Your focus appears to be on activism and social issues. Ours is on disaster relief.

I am not part of public laboratories.  I met these people after my work in high resolution imaging crossed paths with them.  I sent you a link to Tom Macwright at mapbox / Development Seed who produces tilemill and other software.  
Development Seed Tohoku Japan 2011 map, Port Au Prince 2010 
http://developmentseed.org/team/tom-macwright/
Have you tried to use tilemill yet?  Do you have any aerial imagery that you can use?

I have not tried Tilemill yet. I am currently trying to get a feel for whether Mapknitter with Cartagen or Tilemill would be the more appropriate solution for restoring maps after a large-scale event causes disruption. Ideally, whatever solution is used, footage should be recombined with adjusted data from OpenStreetMap to allow relatively good accuracy and fidelity at high speed.

Also, are you aware of netduino?  I like the modular design of the newer net go.  The platform uses an open source version of .net and there seems to be people that are bringing up linux. 
http://netduino.com/ 

While we are using Arduino-based technology, our focus is on Arduino, Nanode and so on. Therefore our IDE is Arduino rather than .Net.

Shane

[Coby]

Shane,

Great work!  I would be very interested in seeing where both Metanomy (my nonprofit) and Rocketship Systems (my for-profit) could help out.  Metanomy has been working on a similar project to support Moses in Kenya with small fixed wing platforms that could be used for wildlife monitoring etc.  Rocketship is a startup that is building airframe components for small UAS.  We are partnering with BitWorld (another nonprofit that a good friend runs) to create an Open Source Ecosystem for micro UAS (perhaps eventually robotics/sensors in general).  The overall idea is to create open hardware and software designs that are modular/pluggable and based on real world use cases with feedback from end users; with ease of use, operational sustainability and local manufacturing being some of the drivers.  Same as Public Lab's projects, which is why I am here.  And that brings me back to the topic.

Seems we have some overlap between all our organizations.  So the synergy cliche comes to mind, but I am not sure best way to leverage the overlap.  Metanomy/Rocketship are essentially just me with occasional help from good friends, so we are more of a supporting effort rather than an organization with community management capabilites.  I am not sure of your exact situation, but your site says you are looking for help.  Public Labs has a great community, but not sure how all this fits in since even micro UAS are pretty pricey compared to balloon-based solutions.  Although, regardless of the tool, we do need the open infrastructure to move/use the data.

Anyway, just thought I would throw this info out and see if anyone has ideas.

Regards,

Coby

[Shane Coughlan]

Hi Coby

On May 6, 2012, at 11:21 PM, Coby wrote:
> Shane,
> Great work! I would be very interested in seeing where both Metanomy (my nonprofit) and Rocketship Systems (my for-profit) could help out. Metanomy has been working on a similar project to support Moses in Kenya with small fixed wing platforms that could be used for wildlife monitoring etc. Rocketship is a startup that is building airframe components for small UAS. We are partnering with BitWorld (another nonprofit that a good friend runs) to create an Open Source Ecosystem for micro UAS (perhaps eventually robotics/sensors in general). The overall idea is to create open hardware and software designs that are modular/pluggable and based on real world use cases with feedback from end users; with ease of use, operational sustainability and local manufacturing being some of the drivers. Same as Public Lab's projects, which is why I am here. And that brings me back to the topic.
> Seems we have some overlap between all our organizations. So the synergy cliche comes to mind, but I am not sure best way to leverage the overlap. Metanomy/Rocketship are essentially just me with occasional help from good friends, so we are more of a supporting effort rather than an organization with community management capabilites. I am not sure of your exact situation, but your site says you are looking for help. Public Labs has a great community, but not sure how all this fits in since even micro UAS are pretty pricey compared to balloon-based solutions. Although, regardless of the tool, we do need the open infrastructure to move/use the data.
> Anyway, just thought I would throw this info out and see if anyone has ideas.
> Regards,
> Coby

There seems to be plenty of opportunity to work together.

OpenRelief has about 20 people around the world involved at the moment, and we will formally launch on June 8th at LinuxCon Japan 2012. That period will also see the formation of a formal charitable legal entity to help regulate incoming and outgoing project cash-flow. We are using open platforms to publish our knowledge. So that translates into Solderpad for hardware and Gitorious for software.

Your idea of modular solutions rings true for us, as that's precisely where we are heading too. What I would suggest as a first step is that we try to keep things compatible. For example, we are using existing Open Source and Open Hardware. This means Arduino-derived technology (Ardupilot, Nanode-based sensors) and computers with growing Open Source communities around them (BeagleBoard and Raspberry Pi). I could not see any detail about the technology you are using on your projects. Could you share some references?

Regards

Shane

[Coby]

Shane,

We are using similar tech.  ArduPilot Mega and UAV Dev Board.  We would like to integrate Gumstix soon for video analytics onboard.  Also watching Rasberry Pi very closely.  Early use cases for us are just streaming video/photos using whatever camera sensor meets your needs.  My skills tend to lean more towards the airframe component side.  I am very focused on making the platforms easier to use and sustain.  E.g. Tool free assembly, maintenance and battery changes.  Right now our plan is to release our designs open source via Rocketship.  Pretty standard Open Source biz model - DIY for next to nothing but a bunch of your time, or we can build the components and provide commercial support for a fee.

I should also mention all our initial designs will be microUAS (what we call them if they are under 2Kg/4.4 pounds).  We are watching the FAA process very closely and believe this will help keep things a bit more sustainable for small organizations.

Anyway, don't want to hog the PLOTS group talking all about me.  Not sure if Jeff et al want to open the UAS can o' worms yet or not.  If they do then I am already knee deep and willing to help out however I can.

R,

Coby