Citation: Tu´snio, N.; Wróblewski, W.
The Efficiency of Drones Usage for
Safety and Rescue Operations in an
Open Area: A Case from Poland.
Sustainability 2022, 14, 327. https://
doi.org/10.3390/su14010327
Academic Editors: Luis
Hernández-Callejo,
Sergio Nesmachnow and Sara
Gallardo Saavedra
Received: 16 November 2021
Accepted: 26 December 2021
Published: 29 December 2021
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Article
The Efficiency of Drones Usage for Safety and Rescue
Operations in an Open Area: A Case from Poland
Norbert Tu´snio
1,
* and Wojciech Wróblewski
2
1
Faculty of Safety Engineering and Civil Protection, The Main School of Fire Service, 01-629 Warsaw, Poland
2
Internal Security Institute, The Main School of Fire Service, 01-629 Warsaw, Poland;
wwroblewski@sgsp.edu.pl
* Correspondence: ntusnio@sgsp.edu.pl
Abstract:
The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is becoming increasingly frequent during
search and rescue (SAR) operations conducted to find missing persons. These systems have proven
to be particularly useful for operations executed in the wilderness, i.e., in open and mountainous
areas. The successful implementation of those systems is possible thanks to the potential offered
by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which help achieve a considerable reduction in operational
times and consequently allow a much quicker finding of lost persons. This is crucial to enhance
their chances of survival in extreme conditions (withholding hydration, food and medicine, and
hypothermia). The paper presents the results of a preliminary assessment of a search and rescue
method conducted in an unknown terrain, where groups were coordinated with the use of UAVs
and a ground control station (GCS) workstation. The conducted analysis was focused on assessing
conditions that would help minimise the time of arrival of the rescue team to the target, which in real
conditions could be a missing person identified on aerial images. The results of executed field tests
have proven that the time necessary to reach injured persons can be substantially shortened if imaging
recorded by UAV is deployed, as it considerably enhances the chance of survival in an emergency
situation. The GCS workstation is also one of the crucial components in the search system, which
assures image transmission from the UAV to participants of the search operation and radio signal
amplification in a difficult terrain. The effectiveness of the search system was tested by comparing
the arrival times of teams equipped with GPS and a compass and those not equipped with such
equipment. The article also outlined the possibilities of extending the functionality of the search
system with the SARUAV module, which was used to find a missing person in Poland.
Keywords:
unmanned aerial systems; search and rescue operations; missing people; data transmis-
sion devices; automatic flight
1. Introduction
Every year ca. 20,000–30,000 people go missing in Poland. Most of them are found
on the day of their disappearance, but approximately 4000 continue to be missing over a
longer period [
1
]. As it comes to search and rescue operations, the key factor in this type of
situation is the time required to reach the missing person. Until recently, specialist search
and rescue groups used specially trained dogs or modern basic technological solutions,
such as thermal imaging. Nowadays, units delegated to such actions tend to deploy a
wide assortment of technological solutions, which was presented in [
2
] for three different
operational paradigms supporting this type of action in the field, and factors that affect
the determination of the best paradigm in the human–robot system were specified, which
include the following.
•
Sequential operations—a strategy appropriate for search operations that need to be
executed in a difficult terrain, with restricted mobility, in situations with limited
Sustainability 2022, 14, 327. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010327 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
