Citymesh is proud to present one of their new locations of the innovative Safety Drone Shield, an advanced system using drone technology and 5G connectivity to support emergency services in Belgium. The official presentation and demonstration took place at the Provincial Institute for Education and Training (PIVO) in Asse.
The Safety Drone Shield helps fire, police and security services by getting a drone in the air within 90 seconds of a call. This drone streams live images to the emergency services, enabling them to make more efficient and informed decisions. The drone has a range of 5 kilometres, operates on a 5G network and is equipped with both thermal and regular cameras. The temperature and battery of the Drone-in-a-Box are automatically controlled for optimal performance.
Currently, 16 Drones-in-a-Box are operational, controlled by a team of about 10 pilots from 3 Remote Operations Centres (ROC) in Hasselt, Oostkamp and Marche-en-Famenne. These ROCs provide robust coverage and can take over each other’s tasks if necessary. Currently, the drones operate between 8:00 and 20:00, with the ambition to achieve full 24/7 operations.
At PIVO, the Safety Drone Shield is also being used for training purposes by the fire brigade and police, where exercises can also be recorded for later review and evaluation.
In collaboration with Cegeka, Citymesh has developed the SENSE app, which allows police to manually summon drones to reinforce an intervention. For the fire brigade, this process is fully automated, contributing to faster and more efficient deployment.
With a total investment of 10 million euros, of which 3.6 million is subsidy, this project marks an important step in the future of emergency services in Belgium.
For more information on the full project, visit 5gsense.citymesh.com.
