Researchers at MIT say that a sophisticated fleet of drones could help find lost hikers by searching under dense forest canopies.<\/p>\n
The autonomous drones would bypass the problem of unreliable or nonexistent GPS signals in forest environments by using onboard computation and wireless communication, according to the experts.<\/a><\/p>\n The team\u2019s research is revealed in a paper that will be presented at the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this week.<\/p>\n Using laser range-finders to estimate their position and plan a route, the drones will create 3D maps of the terrain. Algorithms will be employed to help the drones identify unexplored areas and places that it has already searched.<\/p>\n Eventually, researchers want to give the drones object detection technology to help identify missing hikers. This would tag the hiker\u2019s location on a map that can be used by human rescuers.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, we\u2019re replacing humans with a fleet of drones to make the search part of the search-and-rescue process more efficient,\u201d said the paper\u2019s lead author Yulun Tian, a graduate student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro).<\/p>\n [youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2hRNx_0SWGw?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent&w=640&h=360]<\/p>\n The MIT experts tested a number of drones in forest simulations and also tested two drones in a forested area at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Virginia. \u201cIn both experiments, each drone mapped a roughly 20-square-meter area in about two to five minutes and collaboratively fused their maps together in real-time,\u201d they said, in a statement. \u201cThe drones also performed well across several metrics, including overall speed and time to complete the mission, detection of forest features and accurate merging of maps.\u201d<\/p>\n A LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system was mounted on the drones to create a 2-D scan of surrounding obstacles. LiDAR uses a laser to measure distances to the Earth\u2019s surface and can prove extremely valuable to study areas with thick vegetation. The technology, for example, has been used to locate<\/a> a number of archaeological sites.<\/p>\n Archaeologists, for example, have harnessed the technology to reveal<\/a> lost cities and thousands of ancient structures deep in the Guatemalan jungle.<\/p>\n LiDAR is also used extensively in other applications, including autonomous cars, where it allows vehicles to have a continuous 360 degrees view.<\/p>\n The MIT team programmed the drones to identify the orientations of multiple trees \u2013 an algorithm was used to calculate the angles and distances between trees to pinpoint specific clusters. \u201cDrones can use that as a unique signature to tell if they\u2019ve visited this area before or if it\u2019s a new area,\u201d said Tian.<\/p>\n The drones communicate with a ground station that uses specialized navigation software to map unknown areas and keep track of the flying robots. The Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) software uses the LiDAR data to capture the drones\u2019 positions and accurately fuse the digital maps they create.<\/p>\n However, researchers would like to reduce the drones\u2019 reliance on the ground station. The team hopes to design the drones to communicate wirelessly when approaching one another, fusing their maps and cutting communication when they separate. \u201cThe ground station, in that case, would only be used to monitor the updated global map,\u201d they explain, in the statement.<\/p>\n Rescue services are increasingly harnessing drone technology.<\/a> Earlier this year, lifeguards in Australia used a drone to help save two teenage boys caught in dangerous waves<\/a> in what was described as the world\u2019s first rescue by unmanned aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers at MIT say that a sophisticated fleet of drones could help find lost hikers by searching under dense forest canopies.<\/p>\n The autonomous drones would bypass the problem of unreliable or nonexistent GPS signals in forest environments by using onboard computation and wireless communication, according to the experts.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s research is revealed in a paper that will be presented at the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this week.<\/p>\n Using laser range-finders to estimate their position and plan a route, the drones will create 3D maps of the terrain. Algorithms will be employed to help the drones identify unexplored areas and places that it has already searched.<\/p>\n Eventually, researchers want to give the drones object detection technology to help identify missing hikers. This would tag the hiker\u2019s location on a map that can be used by human rescuers.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, we\u2019re replacing humans with a fleet of drones to make the searc..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdpair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}