Multicopters for Search and Rescue in Indoor Environments
(Room 283-285)
02 May 16
1:30 PM
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2:00 PM
Tracks:
Academic, Air, Commercial, Defense, Research and Development, Technical Track: Unmanned Applications Research
One of the potential areas of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) applications is for search and rescue missions during natural disaster such as earthquake, flood, and fire. Deploying manned aircraft in such situations can pose significant threat to the pilot as well as the aircraft. Moreover, there is no possibility of using manned aircraft when the search and rescue has to be conducted in the indoor environments. It is more challenging to assist victims trapped inside buildings. It requires a quick decision so that as many victims as possible are rescued without risking more lives including those of the rescue teams’. Rotary wing UASs such as multicopter have potential to be used for search and rescue missions in the indoor environments, which pose unique challenges such as obstacles on the UAS path, the size of the vehicles that can be used, the amount of the payload that the small UASs can carry, lack of GPS signal and map of the environment, etc. This paper presents the use of two small multicopters that coordinate with each other for indoor search and rescue missions. One multicopter serves as the scout or search vehicle and the second as the rescue vehicle. Small sizes provide the agility and ease of navigation in confined areas. Since these small multicopters are limited in how much payload they can carry, use of two or more vehicles helps in payload distribution. The scout or surveillance subsystem is operated via pilot input, and its flight path is tracked, creating virtual waypoint markers in 3-Dimensional space. This system will also map the indoor environment using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique. This system remotely provides the operator the view of the indoor environment and allows the operator to manually or autonomously locate any potential victims. Once a victim (s) has been located, search vehicle returns to its initial location either manually or autonomously. In the case of autonomous return, the vehicle uses the waypoint markers that were created along the vehicle’s flight path during search mission. The second method is a manually controlled return, in case there is problem with the autonomous return. The delivery vehicle will carry a rescue package such as water bottle, first-aid kit, etc. In the event a victim is located, the system will deliver a rescue package. The system will then safely exit the building. The search and rescue mission can be repeated until all the victims have been identified and located. The paper will talk about the method of coordination between the two vehicles, sensors and algorithms used, methods of mapping the indoor environment, navigation in the GPS-denied environment, obstacle avoidance, delivery mechanism, etc. Simulation and experimental results will be shown.