Patrick Meier: Using Crowd Computing to Analyze UAV Imagery for Search & Rescue Operations — Starkly Opposite USAF Gorgon Stare in Cost, Utility, & Sensibility

Crowd-Sourcing, Innovation, Mobile, Sources (Info/Intel)
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Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier

Using Crowd Computing to Analyze UAV Imagery for Search & Rescue Operations

My brother recently pointed me to this BBC News article on the use of drones for Search & Rescue missions in England’s Lake District, one of my favorite areas of the UK. The picture below is one I took during my most recent visit. In my earlier blog post on the use of UAVs for Search & Rescue operations, I noted that UAV imagery & video footage could be quickly analyzed using a microtasking platform (like MicroMappers, which we used following Typhoon Yolanda). As it turns out, an enterprising team at the University of Central Lancashire has been using microtasking as part of their UAV Search & Rescue exercises in the Lake District.

Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Every year, the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team assists hundreds of injured and missing persons in the North of the Lake District. “The average search takes several hours and can require a large team of volunteers to set out in often poor weather conditions.” So the University of Central Lancashire teamed up with the Mountain Rescue Team to demonstrate that UAV technology coupled with crowdsourcing can reduce the time it takes to locate and rescue individuals.

The project, called AeroSee Experiment, worked as follows. The Mountain Rescue service receives a simulated distress call. As they plan their Search & Rescue operation, the University team dispatches their UAV to begin the search. Using live video-streaming, the UAV automatically transmits pictures back to the team’s website where members of the public can tag pictures that members of the Mountain Rescue service should investigate further. These tagged pictures are then forwarded to “the Mountain Rescue Control Center for a final opinion and dispatch of search teams.” Click to enlarge the diagram below.

Read full post with additional graphics.

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