Increasingly intense heat is burning fiercely around the world accelerating the number, scale and complexity of global disasters. In just a few weeks, we’ve seen record heatwaves in the U.S. Pacific Northwest that have killed hundreds of people – including more heat along the way. Various types of disasters related to heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, typhoons and weather pose a huge challenge to infrastructure providers such as energy utilities and telecoms, who have to keep the uptime as close as possible to 100% for their customers.
To that end, Verizon (which is now TechCrunch’s ultimate parent company) today announced its first demo unit to dub its THOR vehicle, in response to strategic humanitarian operations. Designed on top of the Ford F650 pickup truck chassis, THOR 5G is designed to provide highly mobile and flexible connectivity for frontline responders and citizens via wireless technologies such as Ultra Wideband and Satellite Uplink. The company has partnered with the Department of Defense’s NavalX and Sokal Tech Bridge to build the prototype and unveiled the prototype last week at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, just north of San Diego.
In addition to wireless connections, Thor could potentially set up various drone capabilities. For example, a vehicle could deploy a drone for search and rescue, or help firefighters with intelligence about how fires are evolving over time. As I discussed a few weeks ago, Telcos Mobile’s wireless devices, such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, are adopting a kind of skill capable of flying closer to the solution of novels like AT&T’s Farsnet One from the fast platform, a disaster zone for wireless service delivery. As I discussed a few weeks ago, Telcos Mobile’s wireless devices, such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, are adopting a kind of skill capable of flying closer to the solution of novels like AT&T’s Farsnet One from the fast platform, a disaster zone for wireless service delivery.
Disaster technology, as I’ve dubbed it, is attracting more and more attention from investors and the government, the private sector, insurers and individuals, both large and small, and the need to respond to and respond to the intense nature of global storms.
