Drones in rescue and search operations for missing people

Unmanned aerial vehicle (drone, UAV)

• Unmanned aerial vehicle (drone, UAV)

Drones in the Ministry of Emergency Situations

• Drones in the Ministry of Emergency Situations

2024

"LisaAlert" began to use drones with neural networks to automatically search for missing people

Search and rescue squad "LizaAlert" began to use drones with neural networks to automatically search for missing people. This technology has already demonstrated its effectiveness. In September 2024, in the Pskov region, using drones with neural network analysis, it was possible to find a missing pensioner who spent more than 197 hours in the forest. Thanks to modern technologies, analysis of photographs taken from the air can significantly reduce search time and increase the chances of successful rescue. Read more here

Drone for rescuing drowning people introduced

At the end of August 2024, the Chinese company Ziyan introduced the Falcon-10 unmanned aerial vehicle. This helicopter-type drone can also be used to rescue drowning people. Read more here.

2023: Global rescue drone sales rise 10% to $180 billion for the year

In 2023, search and rescue sales unmanned aerial vehicles on a global scale reached $180.21 billion. For comparison, a year earlier, the volume of this market was estimated at $162.79 billion. Thus, growth exceeded 10%, as stated in the Market Research Future review, published in early September 2024.

One of the key drivers of the analytics industry is the rapid development of technology. The integration of advanced solutions such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision algorithms expands the capabilities of drones, allowing them to perform complex tasks with high accuracy and efficiency. Drones are able to move in difficult conditions and detect people in distress. Modern communication facilities provide high-speed data transmission in real time, which is necessary for the organization of effective search and rescue operations. Additionally, UAV functions are expanded thanks to the appearance of more powerful and compact sensors, as well as improved cameras.

Another important factor contributing to the development of the search and rescue drone industry is the growing use of such devices by organizations in the field of public safety. Emergency response structures around the world recognize the potential of drones to improve rescue operations - including by covering large areas and being able to survey hard-to-reach areas. Drones also play an important role in environmental monitoring and disaster assessment. UAVs are increasingly being used to monitor wildlife. The authors of the report believe that as technologies develop further, the introduction of fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles will accelerate.

The search and rescue drone market is structurally segmented into fixed wing models, multi-rotor vehicles, and hybrid drones. Among them in 2023, the main share was occupied by multi-rotor products - about 60%. This is due to high maneuverability and stability, which makes such devices optimal for working in complex and limited spaces. At the same time, fixed-wing drones show the highest growth rates due to their long battery life and range.

Among the significant players in the industry are named FlytBase, Freefly Systems,, AeroVironment,, DJI FLIR Systems Autel Robotics, Flyability,, Skydio Teledyne FLIR,, Draganfly PrecisionHawk, Vantage Robotics, Yuneec, Parrot and others. Geographically, it took the North America largest share in 2023 - approximately 35% of total revenue. The dominance of the region is explained by the presence of developed infrastructure, technological advances and a high level of drone adoption in general. Europe accounted for about 28% of sales: here the market is stimulated thanks to government initiatives and funding for the development of UAV technologies. The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing the fastest growth due to the active adoption of drones in the areas of disaster response and environmental monitoring. South America, the Middle East and also Africa demonstrate sustainable development.

Analysts believe that in the future the industry will continue to actively expand. The CAGR (compound percentage CAGR) is expected to be 10.7%. As a result, by 2032, the global market for search and rescue drones will reach $450 billion.^[1]

2020: Using Machine Learning to Develop a Method to Improve the Efficiency of People Search

Three researchers working at Johann Kepler University (Linz, Austria) - David Schedl, Indrajit Kurmi and Oliver Bimber - developed in 2020 a method based on machine learning technologies that should radically increase the efficiency of finding people lost in zones with dense vegetation^[2].

Today, if it is necessary to urgently find people lost in the forest, search and rescue teams usually use helicopters or drones. Rescuers fly over the area where the missing can most likely be found. The problem is that in conditions of dense vegetation, it is almost impossible to consider human figures in thickets. Thermal imagers help a little in this situation, allowing you to "see" through the crowns of trees. But there are significant limitations here too. Unfortunately, in some cases, thermal vision is also not particularly effective, for example, when the sun heats trees to a temperature close to the temperature of a person's body.

Yet, as the researchers have proven, using artificial intelligence technologies can partly solve this problem. A special machine learning algorithm developed by the team collects a group of images of a certain area obtained as a result of shooting from a helicopter or drone, and then combines them in such a way that they form a thermal image with a much greater resolution than a single thermal imager. After processing, the resulting images had a significantly greater depth of field, as a result, the trees in the images looked blurred, and the silhouettes of people lying on the ground became more recognizable.

2018: Using UAVs to monitor security on beaches in Moscow

During the 2018 beach season, unmanned aerial vehicles will monitor safety on Moscow beaches. The project plans to use more than 20 quadcopters of the "new generation," according to the official website of the mayor of Moscow^[3] save^[4].

A total of 11 beaches will be patrolled with drones. This is the first case of such a large-scale use of drones to monitor water bodies in Moscow, according to the Main Directorate of the Russian Emergencies Ministry in Moscow.

Quadcopters will fly over the water and broadcast video from their cameras to the tablets of emergency responders on duty. Video surveillance will give rescuers the opportunity to notice in time a drowning or child left unattended by adults, as well as an attempt to make fire in a place not intended for this.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, testing of drones over the water area of ​ ​ the Moscow River began in 2017, and the experiment was successful. In addition to monitoring bodies of water, the ministry uses drones to monitor forests during the summer to track cases of fire. Also, drones are used to search for mushroom pickers lost in the forest and in other cases.

2017: Creation of unmanned drone aircraft technology to search for lost people

In April 2017, it became known that in Pechatniki, on the basis of the Moskva technopolis, the technology of an unmanned drone aircraft was created to search for lost people. A fully autonomous drone with an additional station for recharging was designed by scientists from the Copter Express. Also, members of the search squad "Lisa Alert" contributed to the development. Unmanned aircraft is controlled by an avatar from the ^[5].

This development will significantly increase the area covering the search for the missing person or group of persons. Scientists were able to overcome the difficulty associated with the rapid failure of drones and the small area of ​ ​ search coverage.

The Chinese company DJI, specializing in the production of civilian drones, published^[6] in March 2017, a summary report on reported cases of rescue of people using multicopters.

With the proliferation of civilian drones, many organizations began to use them to help people in dangerous situations. Drones can use conventional and infrared cameras to search for lost people in forests or not evacuated from the city in a flood, drones can survey hard-to-reach areas, and are also able to carry equipment to help victims by air when other delivery routes pose a threat to rescuers.

Despite the fact that news of such incidents occasionally appears in the media, they are mixed with messages of a general type "a drone was involved in the rescue operation," so it is difficult to estimate the real number of people who were really helped by multicopters in a critical situation. Representatives of DJI collected in one report publicly available information about cases that clearly indicated the number of people rescued with the help of a drone, and the danger of the situation in which they found themselves was obvious.

In total, the report included information about 18 different situations in which drones rescued 59 people, 38 of whom were rescued over the past 10 months, which approximately corresponds to one person per week. At the same time, a third (20 people) were saved not by search and rescue organizations, but by ordinary people using their own multicopters. 31 people rescued in the flood - drones were used to search for people and deliver equipment (life jackets, hoards, ropes), which was critical in this situation.

The DJI report does not claim to be complete - company representatives note that only incidents with specific information that the use of the drone turned out to be a key factor were included in the table. In addition, the incident report should have contained accurate information about the number of rescued people who were indeed in a life-threatening situation. For example, due to the lack of accurate data, the report did not get information about the flood, in which up to 200 people were rescued according to various sources.

Notes