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Proving the Rescue Potential of Multi-sensor UAVs

When disaster strikes, the courage and experience of rescue task forces is put to the test. They face heading into the unknown every time they enter a terrain during a rescue mission. Efforts to implement the latest technological tools, such as UAVs, to support their work are aimed at providing safer working conditions for rescue teams and speeding up search activities to improve the efficiency of the entire rescue mission. UAV reconnaissance is considered a very powerful way of overcoming the potentially dangerous lack of information in affected areas.

Specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) have in the past been proposed for firefighting, for search missions, for delivery of rescue kits, and many other impressive tasks. There are high expectations of the use of drones for this type of work, and for obvious reasons: they can go where it would be too hazardous or even impossible for manned aircraft to go. This is one of the major arguments for UAV utilisation.

An experiment was carried out within the framework of the Austrian research project called ‘SecuRescue’ and following emergency scenario was imagined for a test setup: a disaster, caused by natural forces or technical failure, hits an urbanised and partly industrial area. The test focused on how to provide essential access information to first responders as quickly as possible, and ideally in real time.

Read here full article published at www.gim-international.com, March 2018.