UAS are very well suited to the Search and Rescue mission. The availability of small but highly capable
UAV systems will make this job much safer for the rescuers and potentially make
it much easier and faster to find the victim possibly saving more lives. “UAS
can provide situational awareness over a large area quickly, reducing the time
and the number of searchers required to locate and rescue an injured or lost
person, greatly reducing the cost of search and rescue missions. They can be
the first eyes in the sky – immediately after an incident, letting first
responders know precisely where to direct resources. The possibilities for
helping ensure public safety are endless.”("AV," 2014, p. 1)
For this type of mission small, man portable systems would be most
useful. This would allow rescuers to
carry the system with them and deploy it as need and be able to self-recover
the UAV for later use. The Raven B DDL
UAS by AeroVironment would be an ideal system for this type of application. It is small, light (4.8 lbs.), and launched by
hand making this system easily packed into and used in difficult terrain as
demonstrated by the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. A UAV that is
particularly suited to Search and Rescue missions would the quadcopter type
UAS. Many of these systems are available
as RC class aircraft to much more sophisticated systems such as the AeroVironment’s
Qube quadcopter. “With its impressive
40-minute flight endurance, built-in safety features and intuitive user
interface, Qube provides the ability to make command decisions without putting
humans in harm’s way. Qube is the ideal solution for missions where time is
short and risk is high protecting lives and property.”("Qube," 2014, p. 1) The Mesa County Arizona Sheriff’s Department
has been using a small unmanned helicopter and a hand launched fixed wing UAV
since 2010. This has provided the department with a lot of capability for a
fraction of the cost of a manned helicopter traditionally used in Search and
Rescue. “The direct operational cost, including replacement parts and
electricity to charge the drones, totals $3.36 an hour.”(Ban, 2012, p. 1)
UAVs provide the capability for very small law enforcement
departments, civilian organizations, and even volunteer units the ability to
have capabilities that were very limited and only available to the largest
departments in the past. There are challenges however, the largest being
getting permission from the FAA to fly these aircraft. During the 2013 flooding in Colorado a small
UAV manufacturer volunteered to use it UAV to help search for survivors when
manned military aircraft were not able to fly and were told to cease operations
by the FAA. Many of the UAV systems used
for this type of application are small RC type aircraft and the NTSB has recently
ruled that the FAA does not have jurisdiction over this class of aircraft which
could open the door for more of these operations to start flying. There is also significant reluctance in the
population for the use of UAVs by law enforcement and other civil organizations
over fears of privacy violations. While
most of these fears are unfounded and are born of ignorance they do however
represent a significant hurdle to future operations.
While UAVs will have many civil applications I feel that Search and
Rescue will be one of the first civil missions that UAVs will be used in. The fact that most of these missions will
take place over unpopulated or sparsely populated areas will make it easier to
obtain FAA permission to fly in the NAS.
Also this mission is more palatable to the public than general law
enforcement use and as stated they generally use smaller man portable or RC
class systems that will most likely be the first cleared to fly in the NAS.
References
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