 Here in the studio today, we've got Project Owl, who were the winners of the 2018 call for code, and they're pulling back the kimono to show us... their ducks. So ducks are small transmitters that allow a huge Wi-Fi mesh network to be deployed quickly and easily. Now, they're not the kind of thing that you would use in your house, but they can be invaluable during a disaster, when cell service or other essential communications infrastructure might be... down. So let's take a look at how they work, while also giving a big thanks to call for code founding partner IBM for sponsoring this video. [♪ music playing, clicky clicky sound effect, music playing, and video game music playing over the video. Project Owl started as a submission to call for code last year, and call for code is a global challenge inspiring developers to create sustainable technologies to help communities prepare for and respond to natural disasters. So the team was actually inspired by the floods caused by a hurricane in Houston, and the idea was to create a Wi-Fi network that could be distributed by what is essentially a bunch of rubber ducks. So when the flood comes in, a fleet of these ducks could just be dropped into the water, and they would just float around and allow users to connect to an emergency Wi-Fi network. Now, to be clear, the goal was never, you know, like, look out AT&T, because we got this amazing fast Wi-Fi. Like, it doesn't even give you an internet connection. But what it does do is allow people to connect with an emergency response center and share crucial information, like their location, if anyone needs medical attention, and so on and so forth. So let's look at how they got this to work. This right here is a duck. It's a shockingly simple device. We've got an Arduino dev board that's equipped with a Wi-Fi chip, a LoRa chip, and an antenna. This is the actual housing. They won't look like this. And the way that these work is that in every deployment, there's one main duck that acts as the primary connection point, so that'll maybe be located in an emergency response shelter or at a hospital. Then from there, the satellite ducks can be spread out around to send messages or relay them back to the main duck. So the user would connect to the Wi-Fi on the nearest duck to their location, and then their messages would be sent over LoRa, which is a long-range, low-powered transmission standard that allows the satellite ducks to maintain their connection from distances that are much further than traditional Wi-Fi. Thing is, though, even with LoRa, you can't get too far away from the main duck, and this is where another really cool thing about Project OWL comes in. So a bunch of these satellite ducks can actually connect together to form a cluster duck, creating a kind of mesh Wi-Fi network. So if each duck has a range of about 400 meters, the distance they can cover adds up really fast. A dozen might cover a small community, and as you get more, that area just keeps on increasing. So, um, why don't we try it out? Charlie here is part of Project OWL, so he's gonna turn on the main duck, which we have over at the end here. So just open it up and click it on. And I'm gonna turn on one of our satellite ducks. So I click this, it says Mama Online, and then each of these is run off a battery pack that's super simple. It's just three double A's. That'll power it for up to 12 hours, and in the future, they figure these could be powered completely off of solar energy. All right, so we should be in business. Let's see just how well this is gonna work in an emergency. I fire up my Wi-Fi here, got my screen recording running. We go ahead and see SOS, Mama Emergency Portal. I think if I saw that in an emergency, I would probably connect to it. And boom! OWL Emergency Network on Espanol. You're connected to the OWL Emergency Network. Sending an SOS message will send your GPS location to first responders and emergency message. You can add details about your emergency and the closest facilities to you are located at Willowbrook Shopping Center. Where'd you get that from? You guys just picked something? Okay, that is a nearby mall indeed, and perhaps a place, you know, they've got a big parking lot that could be set up with tree edge of sorts. So I can go ahead, I can add some details. First name, where are you, what's your emergency? Flood, landslide, trapped, building collapse, and violence. It's really bad, we need first aid, food, evacuation, financial aid, hygiene for sure. All kinds of good stuff in here. We go ahead and send our SOS. And we can send updates as well. Pretty cool stuff. Of course though, this is Linus Tech Tips, and a simple little demo like that here in the studio is not going to be enough for us. We supposedly have enough satellite ducks to cover a small community, so let's do it, shall we? So for our hypothetical example here, some kind of emergency has taken place. Let's say a flood, and we have fled to high ground. Actually, it's not even that unrealistic. Fun fact, our office is located right adjacent to an enormous floodplain. So, the more you know. So basically, we're up here, we're panicked, we're scared, and we have no connectivity whatsoever. Either because it's been taken out, or because everybody's spamming it at once, and signals are not going through. So this right here is our main duck, and it's connected to the Wi-Fi right here. And this is sort of our base of operations for the afternoon. So in order to cover as much area as possible, we've got one of our satellite ducks right here that is going to go up, and hopefully not be obstructed by any buildings or stuff. So, should we let it go? Ready? Yep. Oh, that really wants to go. Ah! Oh, shit. Oh! So I'm just going to pop a couple more around the neighbourhood to get nice coverage of everywhere. So, on Mama Online, and let's just put it like right there, I guess. Perfect. Hey. Oh. Alright, so I've got a bunch of them around the neighbourhood. Has anything popped up yet? Oh. Look right there. Oh, damn it. Linus survived. What the hell does he want? Uh, hello? Oh, no way! Burger, fries? Man, you're a life saver. There's no ketchup in here. Now, although our example had a bit of silliness to it, this is a very serious solution to a very real problem, and our demo did show how easy it is to create a nice big network to bring connectivity to those who might have lost it. So, thanks to support from IBM, Project OWL has actually been able to expand this and even do a field test in Puerto Rico, so if a disaster like Hurricane Maria happened again, they would be able to get connectivity quickly back to the island. And there are lots of other potential uses, like setting up basic networks in places that currently have no cell service whatsoever, or even just using the lower tracking of the ducks to help find disaster relief supplies once all is said and done. It is shockingly common for things like tents and shelters or even portable toilets to get put down amidst the hubbub and then kind of forgotten where exactly they are. So none of this would have been possible for Project OWL without the boost that they got from Call for Code. So, here's the thing, guys. If you have an idea that you think could help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters, then submit your solution into the 2019 Call for Code. We're going to have that linked below, where the top prize is $200,000 and additional support from IBM and their partners to make your solution a reality. So thanks to IBM for sponsoring this video, thanks to Project OWL for coming up here, and thanks to you guys for watching. If you guys disliked this video, you can hit that button, I guess. But if you liked it, hit like, get subscribed, or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video description. Okay, it's more of like a community thing. I don't know, we probably have community managers that watch this channel. Sure, whatever, at the link in the video description once it's available. Also down there is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which you should totally join. I don't think the fishing line's going to break. I don't know, you could just give it like another couple hundred feet. Want to just tie it to the park bench? Sure. Okay. It's really tight. Oh no! Wait, did it take off? Yep, it's off. Oh, it's, it's, it's, wait. Oh, there it is. It's going the wrong way. Oh, okay. Um. Oh! Oh! Uh. Well. Oops. Uh. So that's going to end up in Chilliwack somewhere. Well, let's not cry over spilt milk. Yeah, I think we could honestly just cut that whole thing out.