Finnish operator Elisas said it is supporting a 5G drone trial by Helsinki city council’s construction service Stara and the Helsinki Rescue Department, in cooperation with innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki. The aim is to streamline environmental management work and the rescue service while cutting the city's CO2 emissions.
The trial will test a service provided by Elisa and Vertical Hobby that uses a 5G network and high-quality, 360-degree video. The service was selected in June for Forum Virium's drone-as-a-service programme as part of the Low Carbon Drone Service Solutions project in Southern Finland. It is supported by the Federation of Uusimaa with financing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The trial supports the Carbon-Neutral Helsinki 2035 action plan.
Stara is experimenting with the drone service to identify and target areas such as forests and nature reserves. Applications include examining the state of woodland after storm damage, mapping vegetation in the archipelago and locating public benches in Suomenlinna.
The rescue service will test the drone service at the end of September for the installation of oil spill booms. The drone is capable of carrying a load of up to 20 kilograms, so it can be used in heavy tasks.
Live images can be monitored simultaneously by several different parties from their offices, saving travel and work duplication, speeding up the start of remedial action and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The drone service would also be suitable to monitor construction sites and search for safe landing sites by identifying people and animals moving in an area.
