Page 48 - FCW, September/October 2019

CaseStudy
48
September/October 2019 FCW.COM
Project Owl tackles emergency response
The company’s mesh networks promise to bring communications and faster relief to areas devastated by disasters
BY STEPHANIE KANOWITZ
Astartup is working to improve communication between first responders and the public during and after natural disasters. Project Owl — so named because of its focus on orga- nization, whereabouts and logistics — built a solution that is part disaster management system and part cloud software to ensure connectivity dur- ing and after an event.
The management system enables officials to monitor responders’ loca-
tions and what they’re doing through a mapping tool. Responders can access the platform using a smartphone or computer, and they can communicate with it via a conversational interface.
“It’s really easy to get a clear sense of what we call a common operating picture of an incident,” said Bryan Knouse, Project Owl’s CEO and co-founder.
Of course, the catch is that connec- tivity can be challenging or nonexistent
during hurricanes and other disasters. That’s why Knouse and his teammates built what they call Ducks or Duck- links, small but hearty devices that can be dropped in a cluster — called a Clusterduck — to create a mesh net- work to which people in affected areas can connect.
“We found an effective way to deploy essentially what is a very basic internet to a place that has no comms,” Knouse said.