Disaster assessment: a reviewable operational map

Historical evidence and present question

DLR reports that its 29 October 2022 Ahrtal exercise processed drone data on site and integrated it into operational maps, while investigating communications alternatives to cellular service. This is historical research evidence, not a current performance promise for our platform. Our proposed pilot measures time to the first reviewed map of a bounded road or infrastructure area.

From tasking to a usable map

1. Incident command prioritises the area and information need. 2. The operator coordinates airspace, access and capture. 3. Save imagery and raw observations locally. 4. Produce a preliminary overview with capture times and gaps. 5. The geospatial team checks reference systems and independent checkpoints. 6. Hand observations, uncertainty and unresolved checks to incident command. Imagery alone cannot certify bridge load capacity or safe access.

Offline first; separate correction and control links

Cellular service, NTRIP and image transfer can fail independently. Loss of corrections is not automatically loss of command and control. Log state and data age after correction loss; continue or abort only under the approved operating plan. PPK requires suitable rover/reference observations and does not provide immediate corrections to flight control. Do not promise fixed GNSS accuracy in obstructed areas.

A / B and delivery responsibility

A: approach GEOSAT for surveying/data products and assess CiRC as an aircraft/mission-system candidate. B: define a bounded positioning, imaging, local storage and data-handoff package. Select radio and edge computing only after power, mass and interface review. Operational clearance remains with the responsible operator; an integrator does not replace incident command. German buyer and procurement roles remain market hypotheses to validate.

For a concrete request

Provide exercise area and federal state, priority decisions, map formats, target CRS/height system, reference data, connectivity, existing aircraft/sensors, authorised recipients and current time to a reviewed map. Put sensitive exact locations only in approved private documentation.

Relevant next steps