It's no secret that one of the most important functions drone technology can serve is to provide visual information for first responders and other public safety officials. With the ability to go into a scene that is often, for a variety of reasons, unsafe for a human or manned vehicle to enter, the UAV industry has been embraced by the public safety sector as a perfect partnership. That being said, sometimes the video and/or audio feed that is taken by the drone is siloed in a way, without every relevant stakeholder receiving the information they need to do the job.

Cytta Corporation is one of the companies in this space looking to solve this problem, specifically with their IGAN (Integrated Global Area Network) platform. Cytta Corp.'s CEO and Chairman Gary Campbell was kind enough to speak to Commercial UAV News in Las Vegas at the Commercial UAV Expo 2022 to explain just how valuable this technology can be in the public safety space.

As Campbell told us, while drones can be extremely valuable for many different types of dangerous situations, too often the video "comes from the drone to a drone controller, and dies there." In other words, people for whom that video and/or audio information could be valuable are not receiving what they need. IGAN solves this with their network, delivering the data to everyone entered to the system. That means all relevant stakeholders are receiving the video in real time, giving the user the opportunity to allow anyone they deem necessary to watch any operation they need to.

Cytta recently released the latest version of their IGAN product. The new IGAN allows users to collect and store all of their audio and visual streams and interact with them when and how they see fit. This can be extremely useful, as has been demonstrated by one of Cytta's main partners, the Dallas, Texas Police Department (DPD).

If, say, DPD is ready to serve a warrant, they may fly a drone to collect video of the location. However, they've only been able to report what they saw. Using IGAN, they can, with just a few clicks,  pull up all of the videos for everyone who needs to see. As Campbell said, they are "changing the way police and fire work in emergency situations."

The main focus of the IGAN platform has been around first responders, but the company is also working with schools for the same purposes: to ensure that all relevant stakeholders, including local sheriff departments, in these buildings have the video and audio data they need. In these situations, the camera feed is relayed to all of the parties, and they can even access what they need through IGAN's app.

It is crucial for the safety of the first responders and the public at large that those on the scene have as much information as they can possibly use, and that the information is as easy to reach as possible. Drones equipped with cameras are a huge step in that positive direction, and with a platform like IGAN, that visual and audio information is getting into the right hands as quickly and seamlessly.