Novel integrated solution of operating a fleet of drones with multiple synchronized missions for disaster responses
RESPONDRONE will develop and validate an integrated solution for first responders to easily operate a fleet of drones with multiple synchronized missions to enhance their situation assessment capacity and own protection. This System of Systems will simplify and accelerate situation assessment and sharing, decision making and operations management, while requiring a small crew to operate it. Moreover, it will deliver high-level information to any involved control centre through an intelligent web-based system that can be operated and accessed from a remote site as well as serving as on-demand airborne communications network to allow people on the ground to communicate with the command centre in case of cellular coverage collapse. 
With these situational-awareness enhancing tools, emergency response teams will be able to more rapidly, effectively and efficiently respond to an emergency or disaster and therefore save more lives. The fleet of drones will provide enhanced capabilities to support assessment missions, search and rescue operations, as well as forest fire fighting. The deployment will still be very simple. Each fleet or unit of drones will be able to be operated by a single pilot and few observers. To ensure seamless uptake and adaption by first responder organizations, RESPONDRONE will be fully integrated and embedded within the current processes and procedures of real emergency response agencies and teams, among others through advanced training programs. Therefore, RESPONDRONE will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of civil protection operations as it will consider the first responder total mission time, cost, and effectiveness (and not just considering the deployment time). 
RESPONDRONE will be demonstrated through participation in actual civil protection exercises on Corsica, involving several agencies simultaneously.