New drone system saves lives at sea

• A team from the Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology is developing a fully autonomous drone system that can enhance the speed and effectiveness of maritime rescue operations.
• The system consists of three separate components that work together a marine catamaran drone, aerial drones, and a fixed-winged quadcopter.
• Cooperating drone systems have the potential to save more lives.

In the last few years, as a result of humanitarian crises around the world, thousands of refugees have fled across the seas, often on rickety dinghies and rafts. A team from the Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology is currently developing a fully autonomous drone system that can enhance the speed and effectiveness of maritime rescue operations.

In the context of refugee crises and migration movements, the ocean has been a frequent and perilous path. People have perished at sea as a result of traveling on unstable or overloaded ships. In the project ‘Quadcopter, fixed-wing, and maritime drones for search and rescue,’ a team from Chalmers is developing a new type of fully automated search and rescue system.

Before crewed rescue vehicles arrive, the system depends on water and aircraft to autonomously investigate a region, alert authorities to those in need, and provide rudimentary help through a communication system.

The drone system consists of three separate components that work together: a marine catamaran drone called Seacat that serves as a base for the other drones, a fleet of winged aerial drones that monitor the surrounding area, and a quadcopter that can approach people in distress and deliver supplies, medical aids, or floatation devices. The quadcopter, a drone with four engines and consequently the ability to hover, can carry up to two kilograms of weight.

Xin Zhao, post-doc in the Fluid Mechanics Division at Chalmers, said, “The project is based on the simple principle that different drones have different advantages, and by allowing several different types of autonomous drones to work together, search efficiency and rescue response speed can be significantly improved, with the potential to save more lives.”

Tomas Gronstedt, a professor in the Fluid Dynamics Division, remarked, “Additionally, the system might, in theory, be linked to any public service or to volunteers who may provide support.”

The Vehicle Mechanics and Autonomous Systems Division and the Fluid Dynamics Division of the Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences collaborated to design the system.

Marine and avian drones are conceived, constructed, and tested at Chalmers.