The Pacific region continues to face a host of security related issues ranging from a climate that continues to be changing for the worse and the consistent plundering of ocean resources.
The sheer size of the Pacific Ocean, which covers about 20 million square kilometres, is a major impediment as island nations seek to effectively monitor their own exclusive economic zones (EEZs).
This may no longer be the case if the groundbreaking work by scientists from the University of the South Pacific (USP) is anything to go by
Led by Associate Professor of Mathematics and director of research at USP Dr Jito Vanualailai, the regional institution is on the cusp of a breakthrough that may change the fortunes of island nations with the imminent launch of the Pacific Drone Project.
Drones, referred to technically as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) first emerged in the 1960s as a US military application but are increasingly being adapted for civilian use.
UAVs now look set to offer Pacific Islands nations a viable option in terms of effectively monitoring regional borders, and critically, ocean resources.
The Pacific Drone Project has garnered much excitement, particularly as it involves cutting edge technology built and controlled right here in the Pacific.
The initiative started from Oceania 21, a meeting of regional environment ministers on climate change held in New Caledonia in April this year, where delegates presented models of how to counter climate change in the region using Pacific-based technology.
Dr Vanualailai’s short presentation was enough to raise eyebrows given the very real potential benefits such technology could deliver to island nations facing many security-related problems that include illegal fishing, large-scale marijuana cultivation and of course, the effects of climate change.
The planned drone project is to be undertaken in collaboration with main partners Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, SOPAC (South Pacific Geoscience Commission), and the IRD (de recherche pour le développement) in New Caledonia.
“We, Pacific islanders need usable technologies that we can use and understand,” explained Dr Vanualailai.
“I think we have reached a stage of advancement and our technology in the region is such that we now have the capability of developing technology our own selves.
“This will effectively change the scenario where regional nations are normally end users of technology.
“If we keep depending on foreign technology we will never develop our own, we have to have the confidence now to move ahead and believe in our own people, our own scientists.”
The USP initiative was an outcome of a European Union project PACE-NET (Pacific-Europe Network for Science, Technology & Innovation) Consortium, basically a meeting where scientists from Europe and Pacific met to discuss ways to help effectively monitor climate change.
The PACE-NET project was initiated by the Research and Innovation Directorates-General of the European Commission with the aim of promoting regional integration, dialogue and collaborative research between the EU and the Pacific region.
The EU interest in the region stems from the knowledge that the region is a major asset in terms of research development and resource wealth.
A PACE-NET statement mentioned the region as “a reservoir of biological resources with economic potential of making it a competitive arena for resource extraction and exploitation.”
From a scientific point of view the region also allows for a variety of phenomena to be observed and studied in “real time” and “real size”.
Island nations were seen as too small in terms of population “to individually address all of their own research and policy issues and needs.”
Simply put, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) lacking technology and funding to effectively monitor their own EEZs.
With 20 million kilometres of total area, it is easy to see why surveillance work in the region is such an extremely difficult and expensive exercise.
Twelve smaller PICs comprise a mere three per cent of total land mass compared with their combined EEZs totalling 97 per cent of the Pacific Ocean
“With neither the technology or capability with financial resources to patrol EEZs, PICs are victims of daily intrusions of unauthorized marine vessels.”
An EU report also found that PICS lose about 9 per cent in potential revenue to unregulated fishing in the region.
The Pacific Drone Project will hopefully help change that.
Interestingly Dr Vanualailai is using his own DOCS philosophical approach in order to get the project off the ground in collaboration with other partners.
Dr Vanualailai’s DOCS philosophical approach mixes a scientific methodology with an emotional approach in order to offer the best solution to security issues facing island nations, but achieving this through self-reliance.
DOCS stands for develop, own, control and sustain — a philosophy which the scientist believes is a perfect system that should be adopted by island nations as they weigh out technology options for the future.
“We are in the position now to develop, own, control and sustain a cutting-edge technology that has several dominant advantages over other current technologies used for environmental monitoring and surveillance.
“The idea is that Pacific Islanders will have a drone unit in their appropriate ministries, and we want to involve the personnel there in the development.
“The UAVs will not be bought off the shelf, but actually designed and built by us, with help of EU. This is important not only to cut costs, but also to ensure that the drones are designed according to the climatic and physical conditions of a PIC.”
Dr Jito said drones would be tailor-made to suit each Pacific Island nation as island countries had distinct and different geographical features.
“It is possible that the type of aircraft we build for Kiribati will not be the same for Tuvalu,” he said.
The mathematician said drone technology would help various government agencies and departments deal with a variety of problems some of which are very difficult to monitor because of inaccessible terrain.
“For example a big problem in Fiji is marijuana — and we can help the police, yet it is very simple if we have a good monitoring system GIS, where we catch the reflection of leaves and precisely identify where the marijuana is.”
Drones can also be used in the agriculture industry as a means to identify diseases and to predict crop yields.
Drones are an example of remote sensing, which is one of the foundations and teaching in the geospatial program at USP.
“I guess it changes the game in the way we in the Pacific look after our own resources,” said Prof Nick Rollings associate professor at the USP’s Geospatial Science Department.
Prof Rollings, one of the key figures in the Pacific Drone Project, said drone technology would play a new role in the new Bachelor of Geospatial Science program at the institution.
“We have 33 keen students enrolled and they will be learning some of the fun uses and more serious applications of drone technology as part of their studies,” he said.
“Along with our colleagues in engineering, we are currently investigating low cost multispectral cameras arrays to fly on drones and are using small drones in our teaching and research.
“In the future, who knows, we can deploy drones to areas hit by disaster, perhaps use them to re-establish communications and send back reports on the needs of those affected.
“One or two drones will have very little impact but the deployment of a squadron of drones, all intelligently working with each other, is a different matter all together.”
The scientist said the unity and joint level commitment from those involved in the project indicated that the project was destined to be a success story.
“We are all mates, we all love drones, we all love Fiji, we all love the Pacific, and we will succeed,” he offered assuredly.
“Ultimately, end users like SPC can deploy Pacific drones rather than buying in overseas technology. I myself can’t wait to start teaching with drones, it’s a win-win all around.”
Dr Vanualailai is confident of the USP’s capabilities in the area of drone technology.
“At this point in time USP has got all the scientists to design the controls off UAVs,” he said.
“The motion of drones and how they move one place to another can easily be understood by mathematics and we can actually simulate that on a computer.”
Dr Vanualailai said the project was in keeping with the USP’s role as a regional university in coming up with effective ideas to help the governments of island nations.
“This seems to be the only cutting edge technology that we Pacific Islanders can develop ourselves and control on our own. This is something that we can actually do.”
In the meantime the projects Lead Development Partners are meeting to discussing via the PACE-NET Consortium to developing a full proposal for submission to various funding agencies, during which time a written expression of interest to join the project as Support Development Partner will be needed.
For now the project partners are targeting the EU’s Economic Development Fund.
Dr Vanualailai is convinced UAVs provide unparalleled affordability, usability, reliability, availability, maintainability and sustainability works in its favour “satisfying therefore the engineering AURAMS criteria, that can never be fully met by other current technologies such satellites and military hardware”.
Government ministries are expected to be involved in the design of UAVs with the establishment of UAV Unit and relevant trained personnel.
The cost of UAVs will be funded from the proposed project.
During the project, a UAV Service & Development Centre will be set up at the USP to service and develop UAVs for the region. The support center will be financially viable via a user-pay system for PICs.
“This will ensure sustainability, so that in the end, the technology is now fully developed, owned, controlled and sustained by us Pacific Islanders,” said Dr Jito.
For now, The Pacific Drone Project lead partners targeted funding is the EU’s Economic Development Fund (EDF11) in July, 2015.
Dr Vanualailai said that while funding for the project was a priority, of equal importance was getting support from regional nations.
The Waiheke Declaration and the Samoa Pathway, including other regional agreements such as the 2014 Framework for Pacific Regionalism, provide clearly identifiable sets of challenges, which, if scoped appropriately, can be innovatively addressed via a technology. Judging by the initial interest and support by delegates at Oceania 21, the Pacific Drone Project is clearly a go.
For the man at the helm of this exciting project, launching it is a prospect Dr Vanualailai is relishing.
“If the project does take off it will be the most satisfying thing to happen to me as a Pacific islander,” he said.
When it does get off the ground, The Pacific Drone Project will undoubtedly serve as a fine example of the self-reliance of island nations using home-based technology in this modern era.
DRONE FACT FILE
* In January 2014, the Micronesia state of Palau closed its entire EEZ to commercial fishing and began a one-year experiment on the effectiveness of the regular use UAVs to enforce the closure
* The UAV-based surveillance system is designed and funded by the Australia-based company, Aerosonde, as a philanthropic gesture by its rich owner, Andrew Forrest.
* Vast areas of the EEZs of the PICs are exposed to daily intrusions by unlicensed or unregistered boats, mainly for illegal fishing. The use of drones to monitor these areas will hopefully change that.
* One of the four lead partners in the Pacific Drone Project, Loughborough University of the United Kingdom has already built up some experience with regards to designing and developing UAVs.
* Drones have been used to track hurricanes
According to National Geographic, UAVs can charge into the heart of a storm without risking human life and limb. That’s one reason NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Northrop Grumman teamed up on to use long-range UAVs to spy on storms as they evolve.
* According to wikipedia UAVs have been used by military forces, civilian government agencies, businesses, and private individuals. In the US, for example, government agencies use UAVs such as the RQ-9 Reaper to patrol the nation’s borders, scout property, and locate fugitives.
* One of the first authorised for domestic usage was the ShadowHawk UAV in service in Montgomery County, Texas, and is being used by their SWAT and emergency management office.
* The typical launch and recovery method of an unmanned aircraft is by the function of an automatic system or an external operator on the ground.
* Historically, UAVs were simple remotely piloted aircraft, but autonomous control is increasingly being employed. The Nazi-German V-1 flying bomb flew autonomously powered by a pulsejet.
* In 2013 it was reported that UAVs were used by at least 50 countries, several of which made their own: for example, Iran, Israel and China
* Drones have been susscesfuly deployed in the agriculture industries of some nations.Japanese farmers have been using Yamaha’s R-50 and RMAX unmanned helicopters to dust their crops since 1987.Some farming initiatives in the US utilise UAVs for crop spraying, as they are often cheaper than a full-sized helicopter.
