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August 22, 2022

Meshing Autonomous Drones Are Changing The Way Search And Rescue Operations Are Conducted

Avalanche season across the developed world brings an annual succession of tragedy and occasional catastrophe.

AtlasPRO Avalanche autonomous drones
AtlasPRO Avalanche autonomous drones

Those countries with mountain ranges that sustain winter tourism economies, be it skiing or mountaineering, are well-versed in the search and rescue (SAR) of sports enthusiasts caught in avalanches.

Avalanches claim an average of 100 lives in Europe alone every year. Thousands of professionals and volunteers (as well as over 50 helicopters) are available to the various European organizations engaged in mountain search and rescue operations. Neither the scale of the infrastructure required, the challenges involved, nor the costs can be overemphasized.

Avalanche rescue requires a high level of training, and finding survivors still buried under the snow (even though rescue workers are all now routinely equipped with avalanche transceivers) can be time-consuming, especially when time is at an absolute premium. Survival rates for those unfortunate enough to be buried under the snow drop very rapidly, from 92 percent when found within 15 minutes to only 30 percent after 35 minutes (when most victims die of suffocation).

We have integrated a standard avalanche transceiver into our Red Dot Design Award-winning AtlasPRO UAS. This is no small feat, given the sensitivity of the transceiver achieved and the issues commonly encountered with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).

This means that SAR teams will soon be deploying with AtlasPRO Avalanche autonomous drones in their efforts to save lives. Starting in Norway, they will be able to locate those still fighting for life under the surface much more quickly than previously possible. 

Every AtlasPRO is capable of BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) flight straight of the box, and since every AtlasPRO ‘meshes’, one operator can use many AtlasPRO’s (each integrated with a transceiver) concurrently to sweep vast areas. From the shear line (the lateral origin of the avalanche) on down, they will be able to scan for beacons under the snow with great accuracy.

NPAID (Norwegian People's Aid), which is responsible for SAR across Norway’s vast mountainous terrain and Arctic regions, has been busily refining drills and performing tests and evaluations in the far frozen North. We still have much to learn, but this integration project has all the hallmarks of a revolution in terms of the saving of lives and a massive reduction of costs.

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