Media Release
December 1 2006
UniSA’s eye in the sky - a new fire-fighting weapon on show
When SA skies fill with the choking smoke of summer bushfires, listen
carefully for the drone of UniSA’s latest fire-fighting weapon.
UniSA, in collaboration with the SA Country Fire Services, is developing an unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) which will track and monitor bushfires relaying vital environmental information and pictures in real time via satellite.
The UAV is just one of the new intelligent technologies on display at UniSA’s Information Communication and Information Technology Expo, open to the public free of charge on December 5 at the Sebel Playford Hotel, North Terrace in the city from 10 am to 5 pm.
The unmanned airborne vehicle is a large model aircraft brimming with cameras, computers and global positioning equipment that will be able to fly at low altitudes providing detailed information on the position of the fire front, wind direction, temperature, density of the smoke and intensity of the fire with pin point accuracy.
Principal researcher for the UAV project, Dr Grant Wigley says the UAV was his most exciting research project to date.
“To be working on the kind of technologies that have an immediate impact in the community is brilliant,” he said.
“The UAV is not limited to bushfire surveillance. It has huge potential to help with other problems – monitoring crop and pasture conditions, measuring the extent of salinity problems, and extending the reach of search and rescue operations in times of crisis. Wherever close aerial surveillance over large areas is required there is a likely application for the UAV.”
In addition to the UAV, the Expo will be a showcase of presentations and displays on the research being undertaken in the UniSA’s Advanced Computer Research Centre, much of which has never been seen before.
Expo organiser Allan Baird says these innovations often develop quietly in university research centres without grabbing the limelight.
“What we hope to showcase at the expo is the real strength of our research and the serious and tangible applications the research has in solving many of the problems faced by industry and government in South Australia today,” Baird said.
“Other examples of technology under development include wearable computers that give the wearer a virtual reality view of the world and can be applied to emergency services training, solving the problem of data integration from different sources and in different formats on the internet, approaches to managing the enormous volumes of data and information that are a part of modern business life, and methods that guarantee the highest possible level of information quality.
“Anyone interested in how these kinds of technologies work and how they might be useful in their business, manufacturing or organisational setting, will find the expo a great opportunity.”
More information about the UniSA ICT Innovation Expo is available online.
TV news editors please note – betacam footage of the UAV in
operation is available for use. Please call Shane for a copy on 0417
082281.
Contact for interview
-
Allan Baird office (08) 83029042 mobile 0403 206 916 email allan.baird@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au