The IDF and Israel Aerospace unit ELTA's system uses cellphone signals to locate people buried beneath buildings.
When the interception systems fail to intercept, and missiles and rockets spread death and destruction on the home front, the speed of the rescue and evacuation team's response is critical.
The Home Front Command and Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) subsidiary Elta Systems have therefore launched one development likely to substantially improve operations by the rescuers, who are the best hope of those trapped in the ruins. According to the specifications set by Home Front Command officers for Elta engineers, a system has been created, called Aluma by the IDF.
This system is based on a large antenna operating from within a vehicle. The system creates a local cloud to which mobile telephone network infrastructure is connected. The new system makes it possible to connect with each mobile phone operated in the disaster area, whether the disaster was caused by a deadly missile hitting a building or by an earthquake. It provides pinpoint locations of people according to their mobile phones. The system is also able to operate in cases in which the cellular network or electrical grid in the area has collapsed a logical situation in such a disaster. "The Aluma informs me where everyone is and on which floor of the building. I can also call him in order to find out his situation and learn ways of reaching him in order to rescue him. This is an excellent means of improving the intelligence about the population needed by the rescue and evacuation teams in real time," says Home Front Command Planning Department Commander Col. Itzik Gai.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 17, 2016
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016
Antenna search system Photo: IDF Spokesman