The use of drones in search and rescue (SAR) is becoming increasingly common place, repeatedly proving they improve outcomes not only for the victims but also the SAR teams.
The US National Park Service have 61 drone pilots trained for search and rescue. The NPS rangers sent out their drones almost 3,000 times in 2020 and this is increasing year on year.
Above: US National Park Service ranger with search and rescue drone (Image credit: National Park Services)
What are the advantages of drones in search and rescue?
- Advanced imaging: Search and rescue drones can be equipt with advanced cameras such as thermal, RGB and infrared imaging. Thermal imaging helps detect people and animals in low visibility due to smoke, darkness or dense vegetation.
- Reduce risk: In the case of disaster response like flooding or fire, a drone can survey the area looking for victims then plan a targeted rescue mission. The search and rescue team don’t need to put themselves at unnecessary risk.
- Underwater search: UAVs designed for underwater imaging can reach destinations that search and rescue divers can’t reach. Underwater drones can be used for searching underwater caves and flood areas where debris can be dangerous and the water can carry dangerous viruses from the result of disaster events.
- Response time: Drones quickly survey and image a large area helping to quickly locate missing people much faster than an on-land rescue team is able to.
- Environmental challenges: Rescue missions are often in areas with rough terrain like rapid rivers, mountainous terrain, floods and snow.
- Alert unreachable rescue targets: Speakers fitted to search and rescue drones can alert missing people to the drones location and communicate instructions or updates on the SAR team’s progress.
What types of drones are used in search and rescue?
DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Range: Affordable search and rescue drones
DJI’s Enterprise range are designed to be used for search and rescue, public safety, visualising remote assets and areal surveying.
There are 3 drones in the range to date; the M2E Zoom, Dual and Advanced. The Mavic 2 Enterprise Advance is the most recent release which came out in April 2021.
For a full comparison on the 3 drones I have a post which compares the Mavic 2 Enterprise range.
The cheapest version in these search and rescue drones is the M2E Zoom but this is lacking a thermal camera.
All drones in the Mavic 2 Enterprise range feature:
- Attachments: 100db Speaker, 2,400 Lumen spotlight
- Working temperature range of -10 to 40°C
- Max speed 38km/h
- Smart controller compatible (no phone or tablet required)
- Flight time: 31 mins
DJI Matrice : Enhanced imaging, longer flight time and more robust search & rescue drone
Matrice is the next step up in search and rescue drones with an improved flight time of 55 minutes per battery, a wider working temperature range and more advanced operating systems such as 6 directional obstacle avoidance.
Unlike the Mavic Enterprise series, the DJI Matrice can fit multiple attachments at the same time, carrying up to 2.7kg.
Features & Benefits:
- 55 Minutes flight time: 4 sets of batteries charge in the quick-charge battery station (25 mins).
- 15km transmission range
- Temperature range: -20 to 50°C
- IP45 Rated : water and dust protection means this drone can be used in the rain
- Advanced obstacle avoidance: 6 sensors surround the drone detecting objects up to 50m away
- Laser range finder: able to measure distance to objects
- AI Spotcheck : Set objects to be shot again from the same angle and distance in the future.
To make this drone more autonomous a docking station can be used. The whole drone is flown into the docking enclosure and can be released for repeat daily tasks when working in a fixed location. This could be useful as a lifeguard search and rescue drones to automate timed, repeatable search routes to survey the coast line for swimmers in distress.
Above: The DJI Matrice 300 is compatible with the Zenmuse H20 series camera which features 4 lenses; 12 MP wide angle, 23 MP, LRF (laser range finder) and thermal camera.
The high quality camera on the Matrice takes clear photos and video in low light settings and also has thermal, RGB and infrared cloud mapping.
Above: DJI Matrice 300 flight display showing flight, navigation and obstacle information at 20x zoom.
Spot by Boston Dynamics: Land based search & rescue drone
Boston Dynamic’s Spot is a walking robotic drone which has a few benefits in search and rescue compared to flying UAV’s.
The advantage of using a land based drone is the ability to carry heavier loads and has a far longer run time than flying drones. Spot also has the advantage of being able to open doorways and move obstacles when the remote arm is attached.
Above: Spot is able to open doors and move obstacles unlike flying drones.
Features & Benefits :
- Run time: 90 mins
- Temperature range : -20 to 45°C
- Two locations for attachments
- Max load: 14kg
- IP54 rating for dust and moisture. This rating means that the drone is protected from dust ingress and water splashed from all directions.
Underwater Search and Rescue Drone
The Chasing M2 Pro Max is an underwater drone designed for a wide range of applications including search and rescue.
Like Spot, Chasing M2 has an attachable claw that can be used to grab and move obstacles.
This model comes fitted with 8000 lumen lights which is incredibly important for capturing footage underwater. Light only penetrates the top 200m of water and it gets pretty gloomy past the first 50m.
Features & Benefits :
- Run time: NA Corded shore based power supply for 24/7 continuous use (C-SPSS)
- Depth: 200m
- Operational rage : 400m
- SONAR Imaging
- USBL, DVL
- Lights : 8000 Lumen flood lights
What situations are drones used for in search and rescue?
- Finding missing boats or people lost at sea
- Locating survivors after disaster events like
- Earthquakes
- Floods
- Fire
- Underwater searches in disaster recovery or cave floods
- Locating lost hikers, bike riders
- Night searches
- Communicating to lost persons when the rescue team isn’t able to physically get to the location yet via speakers
Final Word on Search and Rescue Drones
If your organization or business is looking to invest in a drone for search and rescue some of the features I recommend to look out for are:
- The ability to carry multiple payloads at the same time i.e both a spot light and a speaker for night search missions
- Battery recharge time: if your only investing in one spare battery check that the recharge time is less than the flight time for continuous flight. Also, the stated maximum flight times are tested in controlled conditions with our resistance so the real life flight time will be less.
- If your looking for drones that have a higher temperature capacity look into military grade drones. These are made to withstand temperatures from -55 up to 125°C
