Corona Fire Department uses Doodle Labs mesh radio MANET for TAK in search and rescue simulation

• In February 2024, members of the Corona Fire Department and mesh networking company Doodle Labs gathered near the Skyline Drive Trailhead in Corona, California, just east of Anaheim.
• The groups set out to perform a simulated search and rescue mission in the mountainous area, which is a popular area for hikers but has rugged terrain and very spotty LTE coverage.
• To stay connected, coordinate a response and locate a hidden mannequin standing in as a distressed hiker who has called in to 911 but has since gone unresponsive, the Corona FD team deployed ground teams, a mobile UTV and a drone, all connected through a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) powered by Doodle Labs mesh radios and supporting the use of situational awareness tool ATAK.
• Using TAK and thanks to connectivity provided by Doodle Labs mesh radios in-hand and mounted to the department's vehicles on the scene, the group was able to share location data, send voice comms, videos and photos and broadcast a drone video feed across the entire team on their own Samsung devices without utilizing LTE. Using Doodle Labs' Network Extension feature, they were then able to backhaul into a Starlink unit on a response vehicle at the base of the foothills and further share all the data into their cloud-based TAK server.
• In the end, Doodle Labs' mesh MANET sped up the coordinated search and rescue response and led to a positive outcome even in an otherwise disconnected environment.
For more on Doodle Labs' solutions for connected teams, visit doodlelabs.com...

[@irahughes8931]

Great video! It really shows how mesh radios and UAS can increase the good outcomes of these types of responses.

[@thetaksyndicate6234]

This turned out great!

[@vacoff2717]

Does that DJI matrice also has a doodle labs radio integrated?

[@doodlelabs]

Great q! It does not, rather: - DJI sends video feed down to GCS on the ground - GCS is connected to Wearable Mesh Rider Radio via Wi-fi hotspot backhaul - TAK UAS plug-in grabs and sends video as a broadcast across TAK, which can be viewed by everyone on the Mesh Rider network. Additionally, since we also backhauled the network into Starlink unit that was mounted on the response vehicle at the base of the foothills, that TAK broadcast could be seen by anyone logged into the TAK server anywhere in the world. If Corona *had* been operating a drone with an integrated Doodle Labs radio (there are many great options out there!), that video stream could be routed even more directly, and the drone itself could act as an aerial antenna and increase the reach and resiliency of the network for folks on the ground.

[@vacoff2717]

@@doodlelabs yes that makes sense, in would be strange to have a radio integrated into the Dji. Also as I got your attention it would be great if you could upload a tutorial video on how to run 3rd party scripts in the radios.

[@miestermind]

Email/message sent. Have a project in development. Wish to incorporate this.