Autonomous search and rescue of in-water victims with unmanned aerial vehicles in marine environments

人们竟然在海水中，从一艘船上说，是一起紧急事件。国际海事组织规则规定，必须努力定位和营救遇难者(S)。通常情况下，很难及时做出反应，而且事件发现得较晚。船只需要额外的时间进行人员落水操纵(威廉姆森转弯)、确定遇难者(S)的位置、召集救援人员、部署救援船以及本身进行救援。如果受害者处于海上、低温水域或黑暗中，情况就会更加复杂。他们因精疲力竭、体温过低或暴露在空气中溺水而死。人们意外落水的原因有：(1)工作事故(35-50%)、(2)与酒精有关(25-35%)或自杀(20-40%)。除极少数例外外，目前还没有经济、可快速部署和在船只掉头时快速投入的自主水下受害者探测工具来定位受害者。拟议的部署具有机载智能搜索能力的无人机的概念是，在受害者定位后，为受害者部署浮力辅助装置。这使得在船只掉头时立即进行搜索，以定位水中遇难者的位置，组织船上的救援工作，等等。否则，搜索工作直到船只进入位置才开始，通常是在海平面上进行视觉搜索。拟议的概念充分利用了时间和资源的最佳利用，在分秒必争的情况下，生死攸关。鉴于加拿大广阔的海岸线和启动陆上搜救工作所需的时间，这些工具将对加拿大对邮轮、海岸警卫队船只、国防部船只、近海钻井平台、大型渔船等的海上搜索和救援感兴趣。NSERC合作和研究发展赠款的目标是确定和解决主题问题所需的能力。

People unexpectedly in ocean water, from say a ship, is an emergency incident. The International Maritime Organization rules stipulate efforts must be applied to localize and rescue the victim(s). Usually, a timely response is difficult and the incident is discovered late. Additional time is required for the vessel to perform the man-overboard manoeuver (Williamson turn), localize the victim(s), muster the rescue crew, deploy a rescue vessel, and to perform the rescue itself. This is further complicated if the victims are in a sea state, hypothermic waters, or in the dark. They succumb by drowning from exhaustion, hypothermia or exposure. People are unexpectedly in the water due to: (1) work accidents (35-50%), (2) alcohol-related (25-35%), or suicides (20-40%). With very few exceptions, there are no autonomous in-water victim detection tools to localize the victims that are economical, rapidly deployable and quickly engaged while the ship turns around, etc. The proposed concept of deploying an unmanned aerial vehicle with on-board intelligent search abilities and upon localization of the victim, deploys a buoyancy assist to the victim. This puts into play an immediate search to localize the in-water victims while the ship turns around, organizes its on-board rescue effort, etc. Otherwise the search does not start until the ship is 'on station' and is usually done visually at sea level. The proposed concept capitalizes on best use of time and resources in a situation where minutes make a life or death difference. Given Canada's expansive coastlines and the time it takes to initiate land-based search and rescue efforts this tools would be of interest to Canadian marine search and rescue for cruise ships, Coast Guard ships, Department of National Defence ships, offshore rigs, larger fishing vessels, etc. The objective of this NSERC Collaborative and Research Development grant is to identify and address capabilities that are required for subject problem.