Ohio State alums work alongside first responders to develop life-saving technology

Logan Nowlin
Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:23:04 +0000
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Co-founders of ParaWave Adithya Ramaswami (left) and Jack Murray (right) are developing drone technology tools to aid first responders. Credit: Courtesy of Adithya Ramaswami

While many new businesses are looking to set their corresponding markets ablaze, recent Ohio State graduates Adithya Ramaswami and Jack Murray are working tirelessly to extinguish flames.

Ramaswami and Murray are the co-founders of ParaWave, a drone technology company developing cutting-edge tools for first responders to save lives in critical situations. These include flash floods, house fires, search-and-rescue missions and other emergency scenes, Ramaswami said.

“Both Jack and I have a tremendous amount of passion and experience in the drone space, so back at the end of 2021 we decided, ‘Let’s take this passion in the drone space and apply it into something we’re both passionate about and something meaningful,’” Ramaswami said.

Now that Ramaswami and Murray have both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering and aeronautical engineering, respectively, they can commit to a full-time ParaWave startup. Ramaswami said ParaWave is currently preparing to release its first-ever drone product “very soon,” with more updates to come.

The drone model will be equipped with cameras, thermal imaging and real-time data transmission technologies that provide first responders with enhanced vision, access, speed and ability to scout out dangerous areas, Ramaswami said.

“Say for example, you’re a parent and your child has suddenly gone missing one day and you are thrown into a panic wondering where they can possibly be,” Murray said. “You call 911, and the local police, fire[fighters] and EMS are spread thin throughout the entire community looking for that missing individual to bring them home safely. What a drone can help do is get an eye from the sky to cover wide areas with high-resolution and high-optical cameras that can allow public safety to get a good overview of the emergency scene.”

This bird’s-eye-view of an emergency scene can help first responders not only locate missing individuals but also reallocate on-ground resources to execute the most efficient searches possible, Murray said.

Ramaswami said he and Murray have extensive experience with drone technology. Ramaswami founded Buckeye Vertical — a national championship-winning drone competition team — in 2020, while Murray carried out two NASA internships in 2021 and 2022. Murray also worked at ResCon Technologies, a Columbus-based startup that implements artificial intelligence and machine learning into drone control software, during summer 2021.

Still, neither has any first responder experience, Ramaswami said. Consequently, the duo made it a priority to work alongside first responders to collect their opinions and gauge their feedback to determine which tech components would be most productive in ParaWave’s drone design.

“Hearing what they have to say and hearing how drones can transform the work they’re doing has been transformational for us,” Ramaswami said. “The feedback has been invaluable and incredible and has really helped guide us in the work that we’re doing.”

Ramaswami said it was challenging to determine which ideas should be implemented in the initial aircraft prototype and which ideas could be shelved for future use in versions two, three, four and beyond.

“Sometimes it feels like trying to drink water from a firehose, but we’re excited for the journey to come,” Ramaswami said.

Both Ramaswami and Murray partially credited their success to the vast array of resources available at Ohio State, especially the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship. According to its website, the center provides entrepreneurs with “early-stage capital, startup talent and robust programming resources.”

“For any student that is kind of on the fence of starting a business or not really sure what to do, take the plunge, go for it and see what happens,” Ramaswami said. “Sometimes the best adventures are the ones when you step into uncertainty.”

Additional information and updates on ParaWave can be found on the startup’s website.