Satellites guide humanitarian aid

Supported by the CNES, the French Space Agency, a company in Toulouse has fitted 100 all-terrain vehicles belonging to humanitarian organisations with satellite relays enabling them to be monitored and to establish communications for greater security.

 

One of the four-wheel drive vehicles belonging to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees fitted with a satellite monitoring system by Novacom with the help of the CNES. Credit: HCR

Humanitarian organisations are often asked to go into regions that have been hit by natural disasters or into war zones. It is, therefore, understandable that being able to monitor the vehicles of these organisations virtually in real-time and, where necessary, being able to establish a telecommunications link is a guarantee of security.

Protecting and saving
It was in 2008 that the CNES, the French Space Agency, selected the project put forward by the company Novacom Services from Toulouse, supporting it for public policy purposes. A subsidiary of CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) and Telespazio, Novacom designed HumaNav, a space technology application suited to the needs of humanitarian organisations and, in this instance, the UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross.

Map showing 6 pilot sites selected for testing Novacom’s HumaNav system: Chad, Sudan and Uganda for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and Nepal for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Credit: CNES

Thanks to financial aid totalling 200,000 euros from the CNES, 100 four-wheel drive vehicles were fitted with GPS (satellite navigation) terminals, a warning system and a satellite telecommunications device. The security of personnel in the field is thus better assured due to determination of their geological position and the possibility of communicating. Furthermore, the monitoring of journeys enables vehicle fleet management to be optimised and, therefore, significant energy savings to be made. Novacom’s website has an interactive calculator so that website visitors can appreciate what having such a GPS and satellite relay management system means. The company from Toulouse is announcing annual savings of 84,000 euros for the fuel budget of 100 utility vehicles, each accumulating 40,000 km per year. This, we would point out, is also a saving of 150 tonnes of greenhouse, carbon dioxide gas!

Published on 23 January 2012