Airbus challenge results in smart comms solutions

During its Critical App Challenge, Airbus has succeeded in developing new secure communication concepts for public safety.

The competition for app developers brought together 24 international representatives from eight companies.

The applications that were developed will run on the Tactilon Dabat to facilitate the daily work for police officers and rescue personnel. This Airbus device is the first 2-in-1 Android smartphone and TETRA radio.

Three participating companies received awards for their exceptional solutions during the event. ‘Intelligence on Wheels’ created a warning system preventing deadly train collisions by equipping railway engines with TETRA and Long Term Evolution (LTE) devices. Meanwhile, the Finnish company ‘Tactical AI’ invented an app accelerating criminal conviction. The app is capable of matching pictures or footage recorded by surveillance cameras with police suspect databases. Finally, the company ‘Steerpath’ enables team leaders of security personnel or police to conduct operations in buildings such as airports or hospitals with the help of real-time geolocation through TETRA or LTE. Airbus will invite all three developers to the Critical Communication World exhibition in Berlin in May 2018.

“The Critical App Challenge was a unique event which put all partners in a win-win situation,” said Airbus Head of Strategy and Marketing for Secure Land Communications Eric Davalo.

“Thanks to the developers’ sophisticated ideas, Airbus is growing its ecosystem for smart and secure communications solutions. At the same time, start-ups and developers are gaining insight into the world of mission-critical communication through us.”

Eight companies from Finland and Germany were selected by Airbus for the Critical App Challenge to find the best high-tech solutions for the Tactilon Dabat. During this collaborative event, the aim was to invent, in a limited amount of time, new smartphone applications for public safety users, such as police and rescue personnel. The concept is based on the idea of hackathons, in which software developers, user interface designers and business managers work together intensively to create proofs of concept of innovative solutions.

Outside the event, application developers interested in cooperating with Airbus can register for free to the SmarTWISP program on the ‘Secure Land Communications’ website and find a starter kit which helps with the making of new mission-critical applications. Once approved for a free membership, developers can access guidelines, tools and the application programming interface (API). Furthermore, developers themselves benefit from special training, tools and reward schemes.

Image courtesy of Airbus.

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