KALIMOUSE
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I have been researching using drones for search and rescue for the past few years and I would like to share with the forum some important things I have learned to successfully use drones in search and rescue.
The very first thing to understand, just because you have a drone doesn't make you effective in searching for a missing person. Its how you use the drone as a tool that can make the difference between life and death.
Dji mavic pro, they are cheap and you can buy them used with batteries for about $500. A drone can only fly up to 30 minutes per battery and takes about a hour to charge. Having multiple will extend the time your searching in the air.
I personally use the LITCHI app.
Its a paid app, around $20+, but its the best app in my opinion because you can plan out mission on a pc. Fly the mission virtually on google earth pro before you even go to the location. It allows adjustments of flight altitude based on geographic data, create way points and POI for the camera to focus on.
For making flight plans for with way-point missions, I suggest getting a trial of DJI FLIGHT PLANNER.
This software automatically creates flight plans based on your desired search area outline for the exact drone you are using based on height. This is a key component because if you planning on flying at 100 feet and your drones lens is narrow . You could miss your target by yards. You must cover every inch with overlap to ensure that nothing is missed. Flying manually the chances are minimal success.
Once you have made a flight plan, upload it to litchi, fly it virtually to make sure that you have coverage and altitude clearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocoj2g4kuQs
The litchi app, fly's for you, all you have to is fly the drone to more than 15 feet , load the mission, and press go. At the maximum recommended S&R speed and altitude, you can search almost 500 acres in a hour.
Its good to have multiple SD cards, when you switch out batteries, change cards. When the next mission is flying,start the footage copying to a laptop to search the results from the previous flight.
When the footage is done copying you run it through a software called LOC8.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4L3MPdOepc
If you know the color of clothes that person was last known wearing, this software will search every pixel from the footage for that exact color or shades of matching colors. This is a game changer that is essential.
The next issue is, what about what we cant see from above. In rugged environment, trees and vegetation make be blocking overhead flight from locating a target. There are two currently available solutions.
Skydio 2 has a object avoidance that is currently the best on the market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WtoCrF0smo
It works with a 3rd party flight planning app named Drone Deploy. You use drone deploy as a replacement for DJI FLIGHT PLANNER, for the skydio 2.
The second solution is LIDAR. I am just going to let this video speak for how amazing LIDAR is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNFNVSU6A24
Lidar can even find graves
Lidar could help in search for missing murder victims | Electro Optics
I would like to start a non-porfit rapid response drone search and rescue team similar to ADVENTURES WITH PURPOSE, but for the air. There is constant evolution in the tech available that its hard for law enforcement to up with the ever changing industry. They have budgets and red tape to acquire this tech. Additionally, most are limited on searching outside of jurisdiction or on cold cases.
This wonderful forum is filled with amazing individuals with outstanding skills, if we had a section on the forum to post drone footage for users to comb through or give suggestions on search locations. We could be a more effective community in bringing family's back together.
The very first thing to understand, just because you have a drone doesn't make you effective in searching for a missing person. Its how you use the drone as a tool that can make the difference between life and death.
Dji mavic pro, they are cheap and you can buy them used with batteries for about $500. A drone can only fly up to 30 minutes per battery and takes about a hour to charge. Having multiple will extend the time your searching in the air.
I personally use the LITCHI app.
Its a paid app, around $20+, but its the best app in my opinion because you can plan out mission on a pc. Fly the mission virtually on google earth pro before you even go to the location. It allows adjustments of flight altitude based on geographic data, create way points and POI for the camera to focus on.
For making flight plans for with way-point missions, I suggest getting a trial of DJI FLIGHT PLANNER.
This software automatically creates flight plans based on your desired search area outline for the exact drone you are using based on height. This is a key component because if you planning on flying at 100 feet and your drones lens is narrow . You could miss your target by yards. You must cover every inch with overlap to ensure that nothing is missed. Flying manually the chances are minimal success.
Once you have made a flight plan, upload it to litchi, fly it virtually to make sure that you have coverage and altitude clearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocoj2g4kuQs
The litchi app, fly's for you, all you have to is fly the drone to more than 15 feet , load the mission, and press go. At the maximum recommended S&R speed and altitude, you can search almost 500 acres in a hour.
Its good to have multiple SD cards, when you switch out batteries, change cards. When the next mission is flying,start the footage copying to a laptop to search the results from the previous flight.
When the footage is done copying you run it through a software called LOC8.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4L3MPdOepc
If you know the color of clothes that person was last known wearing, this software will search every pixel from the footage for that exact color or shades of matching colors. This is a game changer that is essential.
The next issue is, what about what we cant see from above. In rugged environment, trees and vegetation make be blocking overhead flight from locating a target. There are two currently available solutions.
Skydio 2 has a object avoidance that is currently the best on the market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WtoCrF0smo
It works with a 3rd party flight planning app named Drone Deploy. You use drone deploy as a replacement for DJI FLIGHT PLANNER, for the skydio 2.
The second solution is LIDAR. I am just going to let this video speak for how amazing LIDAR is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNFNVSU6A24
Lidar can even find graves
Lidar could help in search for missing murder victims | Electro Optics
I would like to start a non-porfit rapid response drone search and rescue team similar to ADVENTURES WITH PURPOSE, but for the air. There is constant evolution in the tech available that its hard for law enforcement to up with the ever changing industry. They have budgets and red tape to acquire this tech. Additionally, most are limited on searching outside of jurisdiction or on cold cases.
This wonderful forum is filled with amazing individuals with outstanding skills, if we had a section on the forum to post drone footage for users to comb through or give suggestions on search locations. We could be a more effective community in bringing family's back together.
