Citation: Cao, Y.; Qi, F.; Jing, Y.; Zhu,
M.; Lei, T.; Li, Z.; Xia, J.; Wang, J.; Lu,
G. Mission Chain Driven Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle Swarms Cooperation
for the Search and Rescue of Outdoor
Injured Human Targets. Drones 2022,
6, 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/
drones6060138
Academic Editors: Andrzej
Łukaszewicz, Wojciech Giernacki,
Zbigniew Kulesza, Jaroslaw Pytka
and Andriy Holovatyy
Received: 4 May 2022
Accepted: 26 May 2022
Published: 28 May 2022
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Article
Mission Chain Driven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarms
Cooperation for the Search and Rescue of Outdoor Injured
Human Targets
Yusen Cao
1,2,†
, Fugui Qi
1,2,†
, Yu Jing
1,2
, Mingming Zhu
1,3
, Tao Lei
1,2
, Zhao Li
1,2
, Juanjuan Xia
1,2
,
Jianqi Wang
1,2
and Guohua Lu
1,2,
*
1
Department of Military Biomedical Engineering, Air Force Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China;
higher1212@fmmu.edu.cn (Y.C.); qifg1992@fmmu.edu.cn (F.Q.); jingyu1998@fmmu.edu.cn (Y.J.);
bme19005@fmmu.edu.cn (M.Z.); leitaoxman@fmmu.edu.cn (T.L.); lizhaofmmu@fmmu.edu.cn (Z.L.);
magnolxia@fmmu.edu.cn (J.X.); wangjq@fmmu.edu.cn (J.W.)
2
Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Bioelectromagnetic Detection and Intelligent Perception,
Xi’an 710032, China
3
Drug and Instrument Supervisory & Test Station of PLA Xining Joint Logistics Support Center,
Lanzhou 730050, China
* Correspondence: lugh1976@fmmu.edu.cn; Tel.: +86-29-84711471
† These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract:
A novel cooperative strategy for distributed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms with
different functions, namely the mission chain-driven unmanned aerial vehicle swarms cooperation
method, is proposed to allow the fast search and timely rescue of injured human targets in a wide-
area outdoor environment. First, a UAV-camera unit is exploited to detect the suspected human
target combined with improved deep learning technology. Then, the target location information is
transferred to a self-organizing network. Then, the special bio-radar-UAV unit was released to recheck
the survivals through a respiratory characteristic detection algorithm. Finally, driven by the location
and vital sign status of the injured, a nearby emergency-UAV unit will perform corresponding medical
emergency missions, such as dropping emergency supplies. Experimental results show that this
strategy can identify the human targets autonomously from the outdoor environment effectively, and
the target detection, target sensing, and medical emergency mission chain is completed successfully
relying on the cooperative working mode, which is meaningful for the future search-rescue mission
of outdoor injured human targets.
Keywords: cooperative strategy; UAV swarms; deep learning; self-organizing network; bio-radar
1. Introduction
After natural disasters, wars, and other public safety events, complex environments
put forward severe tests for the search for the wounded. A wide range of areas in distress
makes the search for the wounded inefficient, thus missing the best rescue time for the
wounded. In addition, if rescuers can obtain the location information and life status of
the injured in a timely manner, it is crucial to improve the rescue effect. At this stage, the
wounded search equipment includes mainly individual search equipment and wounded
search unmanned aerial vehicles. Common single-soldier search equipment includes chest
bands, wristbands, and handheld search devices, and the main vital signs monitored
include breathing, heart rate, and blood oxygen [
1
]. This kind of equipment has the
following deficiencies: first, the equipment needs to be distributed in advance, and it
is easy to cause inconvenience in the movement of the user personnel; second, when
this equipment is damaged by impact, fire, etc., the accuracy of the collection of life
information of the injured will be reduced. To solve the limitations of wearable technology,
researchers can effectively improve the search efficiency of outdoor injured people by using
Drones 2022, 6, 138. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6060138 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/drones
