This study explores the potential use of drones in searching for and locating victims and of motorized transportation of search and rescue providers in a mountain environment using a simulation ...model.
This prospective randomized simulation study was performed in order to compare two different search and rescue techniques in searching for an unconscious victim on snow-covered ground. In the control arm, the Classical Line Search Technique (CLT) was used, in which the search is performed on foot and the victim is reached on foot. In the intervention arm, the Drone-snowmobile Technique (DST) was used, the search being performed by drone and the victim reached by snowmobile. The primary outcome of the study was the comparison of the two search and rescue techniques in terms of first human contact time.
Twenty search and rescue operations were conducted in this study. Median time to arrival at the mannequin was 57.3min for CLT, compared to 8.9min for DST. The median value of the total searched area was 88,322.0m2 for CLT and 228,613.0m2 for DST. The median area searched per minute was 1489.6m2 for CLT and 32,979.9m2 for DST (p<0.01 for all comparisons).
In conclusion, a wider area can be searched faster by drone using DST compared to the classical technique, and the victim can be located faster and reached earlier with rescuers transported by snowmobile.
This paper presents a multipurpose UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) for mountain rescue operations. The multi-rotors based flying platform and its embedded avionics are designed to meet environmental ...requirements for mountainous terrain such as low temperatures, high altitude and strong winds, assuring the capability of carrying different payloads (separately or together) such as: avalanche beacon (ARTVA) with automatic signal recognition and path following algorithms for the rapid location of snow-covered body; camera (visible and thermal) for search and rescue of missing persons on snow and in woods during the day or night; payload deployment to drop emergency kits or specific explosive cartridge for controlled avalanche detachment. The resulting small (less than 5 kg) UAV is capable of full autonomous flight (including take-off and landing) of a pre-programmed, or easily configurable, custom mission. Furthermore, the autopilot manages the sensors measurements (i.e. beacons or cameras) to update the flying mission automatically in flight. Specific functionalities such as terrain following were developed and implemented. Ground station programming of the UAV is not needed, except compulsory monitoring, as the rescue mission can be accomplished in a full automatic mode.
When a natural disaster occurs, the most critical task is to search and rescue trapped people as soon as possible. In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely employed because ...of their high durability, low cost, ease of implementation, and flexibility. In this article, we collected a new thermal image dataset captured by drones. After that, we used several different deep convolutional neural networks to train survivor detection models on our dataset, including YOLOV3, YOLOV3-MobileNetV1, and YOLOV3- MobileNetV3. Due to the limited computing power and memory of the onboard microcomputer, to balance the inference time and accuracy, we found the optimal points to prune and fine-tune the survivor detection network based on the sensitivity of the convolutional layer. We verified it on NVIDIA's Jetson TX2 and achieved a real-time performance of 26.60 frames/s (FPS). Moreover, we designed a real-time survivor detection system based on DJI Matrice 210 and Manifold 2-G to provide search and rescue services after the disaster.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) play a primary role in a plethora of technical and scientific fields owing to their wide range of applications. In particular, the provision of emergency services ...during the occurrence of a crisis event is a vital application domain where such aerial robots can contribute, sending out valuable assistance to both distressed humans and rescue teams. Bearing in mind that time constraints constitute a crucial parameter in search and rescue (SAR) missions, the punctual and precise detection of humans in peril is of paramount importance. The paper in hand deals with real-time human detection onboard a fully autonomous rescue UAV. Using deep learning techniques, the implemented embedded system was capable of detecting open water swimmers. This allowed the UAV to provide assistance accurately in a fully unsupervised manner, thus enhancing first responder operational capabilities. The novelty of the proposed system is the combination of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) techniques and computer vision algorithms for both precise human detection and rescue apparatus release. Details about hardware configuration as well as the system's performance evaluation are fully discussed.
Winner of the 2006 Outstanding Recent Contribution Award from the American Sociological Association, Sociology of Emotions Section
Many search and rescue workers voluntarily interrupt their lives ...when they are called upon to help strangers. They awake in the middle of the night to cover miles of terrain in search of lost hikers or leave work to search potential avalanche zones for missing skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers in blizzard conditions. They often put their own lives in danger to rescue stranded, hypothermic kayakers and rafters from rivers.
Drawing on six years of participant observation and in-depth interviews, Jennifer Lois examines the emotional subculture of “Peak,” a volunteer mountain-environment search and rescue team. Rescuers were not only confronted by physical dangers, but also by emotional challenges, including both keeping their own emotions in check during crisis situations, and managing the emotions of others, such as those they were rescuing. Lois examines how rescuers constructed meaning in their lives and defined themselves through their heroic work.
Heroic Efforts serves as an easy to understand sociological introduction to the ways emotions develop and connect us to our surroundings, as well as to the links between the concept of heroism and other sociological theories such as those on gender stereotypes and edgework.
Search and Rescue (SAR) missions represent an important challenge in the robotics research field as they usually involve exceedingly variable-nature scenarios which require a high-level of autonomy ...and versatile decision-making capabilities. This challenge becomes even more relevant in the case of aerial robotic platforms owing to their limited payload and computational capabilities. In this paper, we present a fully-autonomous aerial robotic solution, for executing complex SAR missions in unstructured indoor environments. The proposed system is based on the combination of a complete hardware configuration and a flexible system architecture which allows the execution of high-level missions in a fully unsupervised manner (i.e. without human intervention). In order to obtain flexible and versatile behaviors from the proposed aerial robot, several learning-based capabilities have been integrated for target recognition and interaction. The target recognition capability includes a supervised learning classifier based on a computationally-efficient Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model trained for target/background classification, while the capability to interact with the target for rescue operations introduces a novel Image-Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) algorithm which integrates a recent deep reinforcement learning method named Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients (DDPG). In order to train the aerial robot for performing IBVS tasks, a reinforcement learning framework has been developed, which integrates a deep reinforcement learning agent (e.g. DDPG) with a Gazebo-based simulator for aerial robotics. The proposed system has been validated in a wide range of simulation flights, using Gazebo and PX4 Software-In-The-Loop, and real flights in cluttered indoor environments, demonstrating the versatility of the proposed system in complex SAR missions.
Unmanned rescue systems have become an efficient means of executing maritime search and rescue operations, ensuring the safety of rescue personnel. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), due to their ...agility and portability, are well-suited for these missions. In this context, we introduce a lightweight detection model, YOLOv7-FSB, and its integration with ByteTrack for real-time detection and tracking of individuals in maritime distress situations. YOLOv7-FSB is our lightweight detection model, designed to optimize the use of computational resources on UAVs. It comprises several key components: FSNet serves as the backbone network, reducing redundant computations and memory access to enhance the overall efficiency. The SP-ELAN module is introduced to ensure operational speed while improving feature extraction capabilities. We have also enhanced the feature pyramid structure, making it highly effective for locating individuals in distress within aerial images captured by UAVs. By integrating this lightweight model with ByteTrack, we have created a system that improves detection accuracy from 86.9% to 89.2% while maintaining a detection speed similar to YOLOv7-tiny. Additionally, our approach achieves a MOTA of 85.5% and a tracking speed of 82.7 frames per second, meeting the demanding requirements of maritime search and rescue missions.
•A new optimization method called Search and Rescue optimization algorithm (SAR) is proposed.•SAR is tested on 13 constrained benchmark functions and CEC2010 benchmark functions.•Experiment results ...show superiority of SAR compared with other optimization methods.•SAR is also used for solving 7 engineering optimization problems.•The results on the engineering problems prove the performance of SAR in practice.
A new optimization method namely the Search and Rescue optimization algorithm (SAR) is presented here to solve constrained engineering optimization problems. This metaheuristic algorithm imitates the explorations behavior of humans during search and rescue operations. The ε-constrained method is utilized as a constraint-handling technique. Besides, a restart strategy is proposed to avoid local infeasible minima in some complex constrained optimization problems. SAR is applied to solve 18 benchmark constraint functions presented in CEC 2010, 13 benchmark constraint functions, and 7 constrained engineering design problems reported in the specialized literature. The performance of SAR is compared with some state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. According to the statistical comparison results, the performance of SAR is better or highly competitive against the compared algorithms on most of the studied problems.
Search algorithm plays an important role in the motion planning of the robot, it determines whether the mobile robot complete the task. To solve the search task in complex environments, a fusion ...algorithm based on the Flower Pollination algorithm and Q-learning is proposed. To improve the accuracy, an improved grid map is used in the section of environment modeling to change the original static grid to a combination of static and dynamic grids. Secondly, a combination of Q-learning and Flower Pollination algorithm is used to complete the initialization of the Q-table and accelerate the efficiency of the search and rescue robot path search. A combination of static and dynamic reward function is proposed for the different situations encountered by the search and rescue robot during the search process, as a way to allow the search and rescue robot to get better different feedback results in each specific situation. The experiments are divided into two parts: typical and improved grid map path planning. Experiments show that the improved grid map can increase the success rate and the FIQL can be used by the search and rescue robot to accomplish the task in a complex environment. Compared with other algorithms, FIQL can reduce the number of iterations, improve the adaptability of the search and rescue robot to complex environments, and have the advantages of short convergence time and small computational effort.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Remoteness, limited infrastructure and harsh climatic conditions are challenging for maritime activity in the Arctic.•Preparedness to meet these challenges must be conducted by the ship owners ...(relevant knowledge and equipment).•Ship crew and passengers are required to handle the initial response.•Vessels of opportunity may be vital for a successful response.•Availability, mobilization and deployment of professional response agencies is crucial for a successful response.
On 19 June 1989, the Soviet cruise liner, Maxim Gorkiy hit an ice floe southwest of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Some 30 years later, on 28 December 2018, the trawler Northguider grounded in the Hinlopenstretet, in Svalbard. In both cases, all crew members and passengers were rescued in dramatic operations. The Arctic waters are challenging for safe maritime activity, due particularly to the remoteness, limited infrastructure and harsh and dynamic climatic conditions, making preparedness a key factor for maritime safety. In light of these ship accidents and challenges, the aim of this paper is to study the special challenges of operating in Arctic waters and the requirements for preparedness to meet these challenges.
When studying preparedness in Arctic maritime operations, we consider both the ship owners’ own preparations and the availability of Norwegian government rescue services to provide a prompt and efficient response following a ship accident in Arctic waters.
The empirical data stems from research into search and rescue regulations, capabilities and operations in the Arctic region, the SARex reports on search and rescue operations in the Arctic (Solberg, Gudmestad et al. 2016, Solberg, Gudmestad et al. 2017, 2018) and participation in the SARex exercises. Both authors of this paper are affiliated with the Arctic Safety Centre in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.
The article starts with a presentation of the Arctic and the challenges of operating in Arctic waters, followed by a presentation of the theoretical framework. After a short methods chapter, we present the findings and discuss them in relation to the preparedness concept. We then provide some conclusions on the challenges of operating in Arctic waters and the preparedness equipment, knowledge and structures to meet these challenges.
PDF
