Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have wonderful advantages in emergency, search and rescue situations compared to other traditional methods such as the use of manned helicopters, like better maneuverability, or the fact that they can move easily over any terrain and significantly reduce the time response in emergencies.

UAV in emergency and rescue operations

Before adverse weather conditions, UAVs are very useful tools thanks to their great versatility. In most cases, these devices have a big capacity to integrate many different kinds of payloads, such as thermal imaging cameras to identify heat sources, night vision, real-time visual information, lighting systems, powerful optical cameras, etc. that allow you to:

• Examine the terrain from the distance
• Analyze the area to find possible catastrophes
• Detect missing people in a short time
• Contact with the victims
• Find the safest way to rescue them

For example, in snowy conditions and in mountainous areas, UAVs are very useful to warn about imminent dangers on the ground and provide immediate assistance in the event of, for example, an avalanche. The UAVs can go to the risky zone and remotely locate victims trapped under the snow. They can also provide the rescuers valuable information to evaluate the best safety response and thus to speed up rescue procedures without endangering human lives.

Although a snowfall is a hazard for skiers and hikers, it can also be dangerous for drivers who may be trapped on the road or for the buildings and other facilities. In these cases, the labour of the UAVs is very significant when medical kits, food, clothing, tools, etc. need to be transported to inaccessible places, to safeguard as far as possible the victims until the moment of their rescue.

All these operations can be carried out by a single person who will be able to control and coordinate several air vehicles in an emergency situation, protecting the rescue team at all times and being the eyes of those who need this help.

Given all these advantages, there is no doubt that UAVs are very effective tools for these tasks, being a solution to other scenarios such as floods or fires.

For this reason, Embention works with the latest state of the art technologies in the field of the UAVs. Our Veronte Autopilot 1x is capable to execute all kinds of operations and missions in a totally autonomous way and without the intervention of any operator, collect all the important information with the help of integrated multispectral, thermal and visible cameras to see the terrain options (Veronte Gimbal) and thus be able to carry out prevention and rescue actions according to the information that has been previously collected and programmed for these cases.