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

人们竟然在大洋中落水，从船上下来说，是一个紧急事件。 国际海事组织规则规定，必须努力定位和营救受害者。 通常情况下，很难及时做出反应，而且事件发现得很晚。 船舶需要额外的时间来执行人员落水操纵（威廉姆森转向）、确定遇难者位置、召集救援船员、部署救援船和执行救援本身。 如果受害者处于海况、低温沃茨水域或黑暗中，情况就会变得更加复杂。它们会因疲劳、体温过低或暴露而溺水而死。 人们意外地在水中是由于：（1）工作事故（35 - 50%），（2）酒精相关（25 - 35%），或自杀（20 - 40%）。 除了极少数例外，没有自主的水中受害者检测工具来定位受害者，这些工具是经济的，可快速部署的，并且在船舶掉头时快速参与。 * 拟议的概念是部署一架具有机载智能搜索能力的无人驾驶飞行器，并在确定受害者位置后，为受害者部署浮力辅助装置。 这使得立即搜索，以定位水中的受害者，而船舶掉头，组织其船上的救援工作等，否则搜索不会开始，直到船舶是“站”，通常是在海平面视觉。 拟议的概念在分秒必争的情况下充分利用了时间和资源。 * 鉴于加拿大广阔的海岸线和启动陆基搜索和救援工作所需的时间，加拿大海洋搜索和救援游轮、海岸警卫队船只、国防部船只、海上钻井平台、大型渔船、这个NSERC合作和研究发展补助金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.******