Instead, consider making such apps an emergency-only tool so employees will only have to use them sparingly. Satellite internet is still far from common, and far from a necessity. But LEO low earth orbit tech will become cheaper and more available in the near future.
Apple's upcoming iPhone 13 reportedly will feature LEO hardware, which means that users can send or receive messages through satellite internet in case 4G or 5G networks are down. When available, that might be the most cost-effective satellite internet solution; many satellite internet phones range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
Another option is to set up your employees with satellite internet at home. Satellite internet providers like Viasat and HughesNet have special plans for small businesses. If you or your employees are struggling to find fuel during a hurricane or snowstorm, a free mobile app can help.
GasBuddy, which locates the nearest gas station with available fuel, became one of the most-downloaded apps during the Colonial Pipeline hacks earlier this year.
The app also has a crowdsourced dashboard that keeps track of fuel outages by city. A flood alarm is another a good investment if you live in an area where flooding is common—it will detect rising water levels in your basement or ground floor so you know early on that flooding is occurring.
These come in wired and battery-operated models and can also be found in smart varieties that will send an alert to your phone. Note that if utilities are disrupted, cell phone service and power might go out. Of course, a good quality water resistant flashlight is also important to keep on hand. Major wildfires are becoming more common on the West Coast of the U. These can cause evacuations, toxic air, and, of course, can burn down homes. In most cases of wildfire, the immediate need is to evacuate quickly, but if you have time, you might be able to do a few things to protect your home.
Clearing your yard of overgrowth and long grass or dead leaves can also help prevent damage in some cases. Furnace filters can get clogged quickly with ash and soot, so have a spare on hand before disaster hits and every hardware store in town sells out.
If you need to travel in heavy smoke, a good respirator fitted with the proper cartridge is a big help. Percepto Autonomous Solutions, based in Israel, has flown drones before and after hurricanes in Florida to record damage to power lines. Using drones to inspect power lines after hurricanes can be done much faster than by crews driving around looking for damaged poles and cables, which can take days, Avitan said.
After the drones identify changes in the power grid, an automated process analyzes the data, generates a report and emails it to the utility. In March , an outbreak of tornadoes hit Mississippi and Alabama, killing six people, leveling homes and businesses, and knocking out power to thousands. What is more difficult is determining the impact in remote rural areas where there are no residents to report the damage. The research drones enabled NOAA to quickly assess the damage in hard-to-reach locations so forecasters could more accurately map the path of destruction.
One of the advantages of deploying drones is the ability to use a multispectral camera, which can capture images from feet above ground. Mapping the damage, for example, allowed forecasters to identify the starting point of an mile tornado path in a remote area with limited road access close to a river. Before using drones, forecasters often relied on images provided by satellites orbiting the earth. But those images did not have the high resolution produced by drone cameras and the ground is not visible through cloud cover, Wagner said.
Another use of the new imagery is to help determine when to issue warnings for future tornadoes. As more drones are deployed in natural disasters, NASA is creating a plan that will help manage the various types of aircraft responding to such events.
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