Category Archives: Search Rescue Fire

“I visited the University of Torino in 2007 to speak with the team developing UAVs for the World Food Program.
Since then, I’ve bought and tested two small UAVs of my own so I can
use this new technology to capture aerial imagery during disasters; like
the footage below from the Philippines.

UAVs, or drones, have a very strong
military connotation for many of us. But so did space satellites before
Google Earth brought satellite imagery into our homes and changed our
perceptions of said technology. So it stands to reason that UAVs and
aerial imagery will follow suit. This explains why I’m a proponent of
the Drone Social Innovation Award, which
seeks to promote the use of civilian drone technology for the benefit
of humanity. I’m on the panel of judges for this award, which is why I
reached out to DanOffice IT, a Swiss-based company that deployed two drones in response to Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. The drones in question are Huginn X1′s, which have a flight time of 25 minutes with a range of 2 kilometers and maximum altitude of 150 meters.

“I recently spoke with one of the
Huginn pilots who was in Tacloban. He flew the drone to survey shelter
damage, identify blocked roads and search for bodies in the debris
(using thermal imaging cameras mounted on the drone for the latter). The
imagery captured also helped to identify appropriate locations to set
up camp. When I asked the pilot whether he was surprised by anything
during the operation, he noted that road-clearance support was not a
use-case he had expected. I’ll be meeting with him in Switzerland in the
next few weeks to test-fly a Huginn and explore possible partnerships.

“I’d like to see closer collaboration between the Digital Humanitarian Network (DHN) and groups like DanOffice, for example. Providing DHN-member Humanitarian OpenStreetMap (HOTosm) with up-to-date aerial imagery during disasters would be a major win. This was the concept behind OpenAerialMap, which was first discussed back in 2007. While the initiative has yet to formally launch, PIX4D is
a platform that “converts thousands of aerial images, taken by
lightweight UAV or aircraft into geo-referenced 2D mosaics and 3D
surface models and point clouds.”

UAVs (or drones) are starting to be used for search & rescue operations, such as in the Philippines following
Typhoon Yolanda a few months ago. They are also used to find missing
people in the US, which may explain why members of the North Texas Drone
User Group (NTDUG) are organizing the (first ever?) Search & Rescue challenge
in a few days. The purpose of this challenge is to 1) encourage members
to build better drones and 2) simulate a real world positive
application of civilian drones.

Nine teams have signed up to compete in
Saturday’s challenge, which will be held in a wheat field near
Renaissance Fair in Waxahachie, Texas (satellite image below). The
organizers have already sent these teams a simulated missing person’s
report. This will include a mock photo, age, height, hair color,
ethnicity, clothing and where/when this simulated lost person was last
seen. Each drone must have a return to home function and failsafe as
well as live video streaming.

Earlier this year, RTS Lab unveiled its concept for Pars,
an aerial robot that flies out over a large body of water to air-drop
life preservers near drowning victims. Like many design concepts, we
weren’t sure if this life-saving drone would ever become a reality, but
it seems the Iran-based company was recently able to fund a working
prototype and even test its capabilities in open water. Based on these
initial tests, it’s possible that this flying, GPS-guided lifeguard
could be out there saving lives sooner than you think.

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Over the course of four days in August of this year, the Pars
development team visited the Caspian Sea to conduct a battery of tests
on its brand new prototype. The location was chosen in part for its
proximity to the RTS lab, but also because it’s been the site of several
tragic drownings in the past few years, including an incident that took
the lives of six students this past summer. Among other attributes, the
team tested the Pars’ stability during flight, the accuracy of the life
preserver release mechanism, and the bot’s performance in both day and
nighttime conditions. According to the researchers at RTS Labs, the
prototype bot met their expectations perfectly.

The Pars was able to fly for 10 minutes at a top speed of 10 m/s
(22.4 mph) before needing to recharge. This gives it a maximum range of
4.5 km (2.8 miles), making it ideal for emergencies occurring along
coastlines and near ships at sea. It also proved to have a distinct
advantage over its flesh and blood counterparts, since it can bypass
treacherous waters with ease.

When conducting a trial rescue mission, the drone was able to reach a
target 75 m (246 ft) away and drop its payload in about 22 seconds,
while a human lifeguard took 91 seconds to swim to the same location.
During testing at night, the Pars was also able to illuminate targets on
the ground and make itself more visible to its controller on land using
several bright LEDs.

RTS Lab has pointed out that the drone’s fast speed combined with a
capacity for several life preservers means it could attend to multiple
people in one trip. With its built-in GPS, it can even be programmed to
fly to a certain area, dispense life preservers to anyone in danger, and
then automatically return to its base. Of course, the aerial bot won’t
be able to pull anyone to safety just yet, but it could be sent out
ahead of rescue crews to provide some initial aid. The researchers are
also hoping it could give emergency teams a birds-eye view of the
situation and help them plot a safe path to where they need to go.

With such an important job on its shoulders, RTS Lab wants to make
sure that the Pars functions as well as possible before attempting to
distribute it internationally. The company hopes to refine its current
design based on these trials and possibly add some more features, though
it is still looking for further funding to make this possible.

Besides increasing its speed and range, the group has considered
redesigning the drone so it can land on the water in an emergency and
outfitting it with an artificial intelligence that processes images and
sound to locate people in trouble. Presumably, if they receive the
necessary funding, the designers may also construct an off-shore landing
platform for multiple Pars drones, which was outlined in the original
concept.

Until we hear more on the project though, you can check out the video
below to see the Pars robot racing against a human lifeguard (the
actual footage begins at 25 seconds).

Source: RTS Lab