2-Phase Emergency Relief

Inspiration

Catherine Bradley: Growing up in coastal Texas, I have seen first-hand the effects of delayed responses to natural disasters such as hurricanes. Quickly implementing a solution to draw power inwards from the coast is an important aspect to modern disaster relief.

Priscilla Poon: To help those who are helpless in times of disaster.

Christina Thip: To innovate technology.

What It Does

Buoyed Solar Islands, roughly 6000 square meters in area, provide power via Submarine Power Cables to cities located near the shoreline. These Islands are located ~1 mile from the shoreline, and the Submarine Power Cables are delivered via autonomous UUV to the sands. As power is slowly restored, cables may be flown by a small sUAS fleet to inland cities. This fleet of sUAS will also be utilized to create a TPLink mesh LTE network in densely populated areas.

How I built it

After creating the concept, we sketched out the basic plan for implementation. I revised each technology in order to create an efficient system that will quickly deliver basic energy and a self-sustained network to a remote location while infrastructure is repaired.

Challenges I ran into

Finding accurate power output data for large-scale solar panel implementation was difficult. There is no one easy solution for providing power to devastated areas, but I believe short-term implementation of solar panels is an incredibly effective means that does not require the use of valuable fresh-water resources. This is only viable in the short term, lest we risk disrupting the environment near-shore.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I worked through many setbacks while creating the concept for the Buoyed Solar Islands and WiFi mesh network. There are many issues with attempting to implement sea-based solar panels that can be overcome for a short term duration.

What I learned

We truly have a lot of land space for solar panels in the United States! In finding modern problems with installing solar panels to any remote area affected by natural disaster, I found that we have the capability to provide a significant amount of power to our own country before a disaster strikes.

What's next for 2-Phase Emergency Relief

I would love to fully flesh out the Buoyed Solar Island design. I believe there are near-shore solutions that could be viable in the long term for seaside cities.

Built With

• powerpoint