Aerial SearchΒΆ
Contrary to what we had imagined, the OBC search area is not unrealistically small. In fact, SES are routinely deployed to search areas under 1 square km.
Searching for an unobscured, high visibility target that strongly contrasts a monotonous background is however unrealistic. It’s clear we need to push our vision system harder with some more difficult scenes. Various scenarios were discussed, and the focus was on effectively detecting people in different terrain. It was suggested we continue those discussions with personnel involved in spotting from full scale aircraft (this is not something the SES do themselves).
There was some specific interest in searching over waterways and swampy terrain, where foot traffic is especially slow and we could reasonably expect a UAV to have good visual access to the ground (surface). There was also specific interest in thermal imaging, especially at night, and especially rapid deployment of thermal imaging at crime scenes where the search target might have a fading heat signature.
- Mission Profile notes
- helicopter search issues in ACT in summer; low pressure/density
- helicopter search issues in ACT in winter; fog, wind, etc.