Project OWL: When Open Source Helps Catastrophes

Project OWL

Project OWL it is a firmware for IoT devices. A cloud-based analysis tool that aims to help facilitate organization, detect whereabouts, and perform logistics for disaster response and rescue. This project is also under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, which announced that it would make open source technology available to developers around the world to help build a connected network mesh for global emergencies.

In addition, Project OWL was the winner of the challenge of the Call for Code held by IBM in 2019. But the greatest merit of this project is not that, but the amount of lives that it could help save when any type of disaster or catastrophe occurs in any area of ​​the planet (volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, fires, ...). All thanks to that mesh that will create a large-scale network.

The Project OWL firmware can turn any cheap wireless device connected into a DuckLink, that is, a node on the mesh network capable of connecting to any other node around it. That way, first responders can also use and analyze the data to develop action and rescue plans, coordinate resources, learn about weather patterns, communicate with otherwise isolated civilians, etc., during any type of global or local emergency.

La Linux Foundation has highlighted that this launch is a significant milestone, putting the ClusterDuck protocol in the hands of the community so that they can have a starting point to create these infrastructures. All this will be very productive work when it has to be started, improving the distribution of resources, care for victims, etc.

Remember that some have already been implemented test nets, like that of Puerto Rico, made up of 63 nodes, each one capable of covering just over 5 square kilometers. This Project OWL network also has 30 permanent solar energy devices deployed throughout the various areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters.


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