2024 Shaoguan Jiangwan Flood Rescue: Dagong Technology Tethered UAV Conquers Three Disconnections as 24H Airborne Base Station

Shaoguan, China — On April 20, 2024, a catastrophic torrential rainstorm swept through Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, triggering severe landslides in Jiangwan Town of Wujiang District. Access roads were entirely blocked, and power and communication base stations suffered comprehensive destruction. Instantly transformed into an "information island," the town faced the dreaded "Three Disconnections" — severed roads, networks, and power. In this desperate scenario, the tethered UAV, independently developed by Beijing Dagong Technology Co., Ltd., was urgently deployed to ascend as an "Airborne Base Station." This air-ground collaborative communication defense operation successfully pierced the blackout to restore the communication lifeline for the isolated community, unequivocally proving that tethered drone technology is the indispensable "New Aerial Infrastructure" for extreme disaster rescue.

With floodwaters rendering conventional emergency communication vehicles completely immobile — forcing repair personnel to advance via bulldozers or on foot — securing a low-altitude aerial corridor emerged as the only viable solution. On April 21 at 09:44, after frontline repair teams battled to reach the Jiangwan Town vanguard, China Unicom Guangdong urgently deployed Dagong Technology’s tethered UAV system. Carrying a base station module, the multi-rotor drone ascended to a 200-meter altitude. This immediate action tore open the communication blind spot, providing stable signal coverage across a 2-to-3-kilometer radius for the devastated areas. Mobile phones previously displaying "No Service" instantly reconnected, allowing civilians to make safety confirmation calls and transmit critical distress information back to the command center via an aerial data link.

Unlike traditional portable satellite phones that only support limited point-to-point communication, Dagong Technology's tethered UAV demonstrated an overwhelming advantage in wide-area coverage. Its core dominance lies in its ability to shatter the endurance bottleneck that cripples conventional battery-powered drones. By utilizing an advanced photoelectric composite cable connected to a ground generator, the system completely bypasses battery constraints, achieving an unprecedented 24-hour uninterrupted hovering capability. This tireless aerial base station provides the most solid technological foundation for government disaster command and civilian rescue operations, especially during critical moments when secondary disasters like aftershocks or further mudslides remain a potent threat.

Furthermore, Dagong Technology’s tethered UAV showcased formidable technical specifications engineered explicitly for extreme environments. Because the system eliminates the need for heavy onboard batteries, its effective payload capacity is vastly liberated. It effortlessly carries heavier, higher-power communication relay equipment and can simultaneously mount high-altitude lighting modules to support night-time emergency operations. Its tethered cable design acts as a physical stabilizing anchor, empowering the drone to maintain rock-solid hovering stability even in Level 7 gale-force winds and heavy rain. The system also features a rapid-deployment mechanism with one-click expansion and automated cable retraction, drastically reducing setup time to perfectly accommodate the urgent, race-against-time tempo of disaster zones.

The triumphant rescue operation in Jiangwan Town utilized a masterful "combination punch" of emergency communication equipment, with Dagong Technology's tethered UAV serving as the backbone communication node. Following relentless day-and-night efforts, by approximately 22:00 on April 22, communication signals across Jiangwan Town and its surrounding administrative villages were fully restored. In this desperate race against the deluge and mudslides, Dagong Technology’s tethered UAV utilized a resilient cable to weave an unbreakable lifeline between heaven and earth, constructing an impregnable low-altitude defense line that safeguarded the people and redefined modern emergency communication.