The Rapid Response Connectivity Carrier (R2C2) is an easily-transportable 90-metre communications tower that enables communications in emergency response.
Climate disasters affect 217 million people every year. During emergencies, telecommunications networks are often destroyed resulting in connectivity issues that negatively affect productivity and efficiency in emergency response. Current solutions mean that responders are only able to communicate in a very limited area, resulting in thousands of responders confined to small spaces.
The Rapid Response Connectivity Carrier (R2C2) is a tethered drone solution that can be packed into two suitcases and easily transported to affected areas. It flies 24 hours a day covering a three square kilometre area and provides potentially thousands of affected people with internet access. A single cable runs between the ground station and the drone to carry power and the data connection to the drone. R2C2 replaces two systems:
1. Limited hotspot-based connectivity during crises and;
2. The handheld radio network.
The first prototype has been developed and its technical features successfully tested. R2C2 could also be powered by solar energy, making it an eco-friendly, flexible, and efficient solution.
The R2C2 project team plans to test the WiFi-based R2C2 with WFP users in headquarters; field test the WiFi-based R2C2 in a camp with users and develop an LTE-based R2C2 for extending coverage to even larger areas.
In 2023, R2C2 reached several humanitarian firsts, including the testing of the first-ever humanitarian connectivity airship and the testing of a 5G network payload. In addition, the Elistair heavy-life drone lifted its heaviest weight ever and in R2C2's in Morogoro, Tanzania, there were 80 simultaneous connections and a total number of 560 connections over two days.
