Every day, Anicet Mbida makes us discover an innovation that could well change the way we consume.
This Thursday, he is interested in a new technology created by the laboratories of the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and which could well save lives during landslides, earthquakes or avalanches.
These are drones that spot missing people by sound.
The innovation of the day is a new tool for rescuers. If we find ourselves stranded in the rubble after an explosion or an earthquake, it will soon be drones that can locate us just with our cries.
We knew the rescue dogs, we will soon have drones firefighters.
They will fly over the area, armed with ultra-sensitive microphones.
As soon as they hear someone calling for help, or banging on a pipe to get noticed, they'll triangulate their location and send it to rescuers to intervene.
This is important: under several meters under the rubble, we often tell ourselves that shouting, calling for help, is useless.
Let no one see us, no one will hear us.
You will not have to hesitate any longer with these drones with very large ears.
How do they distinguish a call for help from all the surrounding noise (wind, excavators or drone engine)?
They start from a database of the different noises that we spontaneously make when we are in distress or when we want to attract attention (it can be a tapping of the foot as well as a moan).
Then they will extract them from the hubbub with artificial intelligence techniques.
The novelty is therefore not the drone, but the ability to filter only the sounds of a person in distress.
As the algorithm is also capable of amplifying a distant murmur and making it perfectly audible, the system could also be used by ground crews.
And is it already in use by rescuers?
Soon. The system has just emerged from the laboratories of the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. Tests are in progress. The objective is to equip the drones already used today during interventions. When they can't see the survivors, at least they will be able to hear them.