Drones are proving to be highly efficient and effective in search and rescue operations. Several disasters can harm people and throw them off the grid. People have gone missing in landslides, air crashes, and other wreckages. It has hitherto been a tedious task to execute search and rescue operations, especially in situations involving vast stretches of land. There are state-of-the-art drones that can now embark on search and surveillance missions. Thanks to these drones, finding missing people has now become relatively easy and fast.
Drones in Search Operations
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles can be equipped with highly sensitive sensors to detect even the most minute hint of the presence of a person in a vast area. Owing to their small size and remote controllability, they can now enter into zones that can not be accessed by human personnel. With these features, search and rescue drones are now being used for a wide majority of search operations. They not only help in finding people lost due to disaster but also help in finding criminals who are on the run trying to keep themselves off-grid.
Drones in Rescue Operations
Drones are also accomplishing enhanced performance in rescue operations. They carry medical supplies and vaccines to remote areas. They can carry food supplies to the people who are trapped in lands that cannot be reached by helicopters or other modes of transport. They help in capturing and mapping the landscape so that officials can keep a record of the area. In places being ravaged by fire, drones can help in extinguishing it by carrying fire-extinguisher liquid as payload. Search and Rescue is indeed an important application where drones can be utilized to the maximum.
Foldable Drones that can go through narrow spaces
These drones are now being entrusted with state-of-the-art capabilities. For example, a drone that has been developed by the University of Zunich and EPFL can now transform its shape and size in flight! Several times, during search operations, forces encounter very small openings through which it is impossible to travel through. This drone addresses this issue as it can fold itself into a more compact drone during flight. This gives the drone the capability to enter into sections of land where other equipment cannot and implement search or rescue operations. Scientists who were part of building this break-through drone technology say they were inspired by birds that can fold their wings while flying through narrow spaces.
These incredible features being bestowed upon drones in Search and Rescue operations will pave the way to stunning developments in future operations. The use of drones will soon make these operations much easier and faster, hence saving more lives than earlier.
