Artificial Intelligence Holds key in Disaster Management
NEW DELHI: India is already on the path of a digital revolution and the next step is utilising the big data generated to take intelligent decisions. This requires close collaboration between academia, the private sector and public sector in order to understand problems holistically and solve them, , the ASSOCHAM-PwC joint study on ‘Artificial Intelligence and Robotics – 2017’ noted.
AI augmented manufacturing operations can employ more reliable demand forecasting, a flexible and responsive supply chain, quicker changes in operations, and more accurate scheduling and inventory optimisation. Other benefits involve creation of smarter, quicker and environmentally sound processes. This can lead to increased productivity and quality, lower costs and a more robust health and safety framework.
The application of AI in the field of defence and security includes protection of infrastructure such as airports, power plants and economic sectors that are vulnerable to attacks, detecting anomalous behaviour in individuals, and using distributed sensors and pattern recognition to predict infrastructure disruptions through natural/man-made causes, adds the study.
The ‘security games framework’ is based on computational game theory, combined with elements of human behaviour modelling. Given the limited security resources and different high value targets, game-based decisions provide a randomised collection or patrolling schedule based on weights of targets and intelligent reactions of adversaries to security postures.
AI shows remarkable potential in aiding control and remedial actions in the aftermath of environmental and man-made disasters. It can assist in optimising mobile networks and smart bandwidth allocation to ensure network service continuity in the midst of catastrophic events that are usually followed by a spike in communication and jammed networks.
Unmanned drones and satellite feeds combined with image processing and recognition can be used in infrastructure damage assessments and predictions based on structural stability and traffic congestion avoidance through adaptive routing while equipping and deploying disaster management teams. Opportunities for AI intervention also reside in processing social media feeds to gauge location-specific urgency and send targeted alerts to minimise loss of life and property, pointed the study.
