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Small, unmanned aircraft search for survivors
September 15, 2005Hurricane search and rescue is one of first domestic uses of such vehicles
Providing the benefits of speed, portability and access, a pair of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) surveyed storm-damaged communities in Miss. as part of the search for trapped survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
In what is one of the first deployments of such craft for disaster search and rescue, the vehicles captured video imagery to help responders focus efforts and avoid hazards.
"The two UAVs packed a one-two punch," says Robin Murphy of the University of South Florida (USF) and director of the NSF-supported Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR). "The fixed-wing provided a quick overview of an area over several miles, but the use of the miniature helicopter to hover by buildings and on roofs-and to takeoff straight up-really offers new functionality."
Florida emergency responders surveying Pearlington, Miss., asked the Safety Security Rescue Research Center (SSRRC) team to respond to reports of floodwater-stranded survivors. Murphy led the effort with other members of the SSRRC, an NSF-supported industry-university partnership among USF, the University of Minnesota and numerous defense and advanced technology companies.
Although houses pushed into the street during the storm surge blocked the entrance into Pearlington, the unique capabilities of the UAVs allowed the team to launch the aircraft from an open patch of road surrounded by downed trees and power lines.
One of the UAVs is a 4-foot-long airplane with mounted video and thermal imagery cameras that can capture details from as far away as 1,000 feet. Launched by hand, the craft provides rescuers with a broad overview of the disaster area. In part because of the ease of launch and minimal, five-car-length distance needed for landing, the fixed-wing UAV is much easier to deploy than its full-scale counterpart.
The same holds for the other UAV, a camera-equipped, miniature, electric helicopter called a T-Rex. Provided by SSRRC partner Like90, the helicopter can hover at heights approaching 250 feet and zoom its camera to peer inside windows or scan distant rooftops.
Within 2 hours, the vehicles provided responders with information showing that no survivors were trapped and the floodwaters from the cresting Pearl River did not pose an additional threat.
The vehicles are but two of many land- and aircraft operated by SSRRC, one of more than 40 NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs). NSF provides a small investment to universities to start the centers, and industry partners bring additional investment and collaboration. NSF then maintains a supporting role with each center as it evolves over a period of up to 10 years.
According to Rita Rodriguez, program officer for Computing Research Infrastructure at NSF and one overseeing the center, SSRRC combines research efforts in robotics and robotic vision and involves not only industry, USF and UMN, but also undergraduate-focused colleges, such as Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn., and Berea College in Berea, Ky.
University of South Florida
"The two UAVs packed a one-two punch," says Robin Murphy of the University of South Florida (USF) and director of the NSF-supported Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR). "The fixed-wing provided a quick overview of an area over several miles, but the use of the miniature helicopter to hover by buildings and on roofs-and to takeoff straight up-really offers new functionality."
Florida emergency responders surveying Pearlington, Miss., asked the Safety Security Rescue Research Center (SSRRC) team to respond to reports of floodwater-stranded survivors. Murphy led the effort with other members of the SSRRC, an NSF-supported industry-university partnership among USF, the University of Minnesota and numerous defense and advanced technology companies.
Although houses pushed into the street during the storm surge blocked the entrance into Pearlington, the unique capabilities of the UAVs allowed the team to launch the aircraft from an open patch of road surrounded by downed trees and power lines.
One of the UAVs is a 4-foot-long airplane with mounted video and thermal imagery cameras that can capture details from as far away as 1,000 feet. Launched by hand, the craft provides rescuers with a broad overview of the disaster area. In part because of the ease of launch and minimal, five-car-length distance needed for landing, the fixed-wing UAV is much easier to deploy than its full-scale counterpart.
The same holds for the other UAV, a camera-equipped, miniature, electric helicopter called a T-Rex. Provided by SSRRC partner Like90, the helicopter can hover at heights approaching 250 feet and zoom its camera to peer inside windows or scan distant rooftops.
Within 2 hours, the vehicles provided responders with information showing that no survivors were trapped and the floodwaters from the cresting Pearl River did not pose an additional threat.
The vehicles are but two of many land- and aircraft operated by SSRRC, one of more than 40 NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs). NSF provides a small investment to universities to start the centers, and industry partners bring additional investment and collaboration. NSF then maintains a supporting role with each center as it evolves over a period of up to 10 years.
According to Rita Rodriguez, program officer for Computing Research Infrastructure at NSF and one overseeing the center, SSRRC combines research efforts in robotics and robotic vision and involves not only industry, USF and UMN, but also undergraduate-focused colleges, such as Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn., and Berea College in Berea, Ky.
University of South Florida
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Nearly undetectable from the ground, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used by the military to scan terrain for possible threats and intelligence. Now, fuel cell powered UAVs are taking flight as an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored program to help tactical decision-makers gather critical information more efficiently- and more quietly.
Scientists to Assess Beijing Olympics Air Pollution Control Efforts
As the Summer Olympics in Beijing kicks off this week, the event is giving scientists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe how the atmosphere responds when a heavily populated region substantially curbs everyday industrial emissions.
Unmanned aerial vehicles mark robotic first for British Antarctic Survey
Scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in collaboration with the Technical University of Braunschweig (TUBS), Germany have completed the first ever series of flights by autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Antarctica.
Small, self-controlled planes combine plant pathology and engineering
A Virginia Tech plant pathologist has developed autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to detect airborne pathogens above agricultural fields.
Iowa State to unveil the most realistic virtual reality room in the world
You're high above the desert peaks. Your aircraft are approaching their targets. Information from instruments, cameras and radar is before your eyes. And with the help of 100 million pixels of bright and vivid virtual reality you're in control of a swarm of U.S. Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles.
MIT's intelligent aircraft fly, cooperate autonomously
The U.S. military depends on small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to perform such tasks as serving as "eyes in the sky" for battalion commanders planning maneuvers.
Flying on Hydrogen: Georgia Tech Researchers Use Fuel Cells to Power Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have conducted successful test flights of a hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft believed to be the largest to fly on a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell using compressed hydrogen.
Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (AUAVS) take to the skies to track pollutants
A research consortium funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has successfully sent a fleet of aerial drones through the pollution-filled skies over the Indian Ocean, thereby achieving an important milestone in the tracking of pollutants responsible for dimming Earth's atmosphere.
NASA Researchers Studying Tropical Cyclones
NASA hurricane researchers are deploying to Costa Rica next month to investigate the birthplace of eastern Pacific tropical cyclones. They will be searching for clues that could lead to a greater understanding and better predictability of one of the world's most significant weather events - the hurricane.
Synthetic aperture radar may soon be used for reconnaissance on small UAVs
Researchers at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories flew what is probably the world's smallest fine-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in May, making real-time images from the 6-kilometer range with a resolution of four inches.
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