The Experts below are selected from a list of 327 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
A. Davids - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Urban Search and Rescue robots: from tragedy to technology
IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2002Co-Authors: A. DavidsAbstract:The tragedy of September 11th 2001 at the World Trade Center is likely to propel Search-and-Rescue robotics into its next stage, just as the Kobe earthquake and the Oklahoma City bombing were the catalysts for this reSearch domain. Tragedy hasn't been the only motivator for urban Search-and-Rescue advancements in the USA and Japan; international competition has motivated both countries, first with RoboCup Soccer and more recently with RoboCup Rescue. We may see inexpensive urban Search-and-Rescue robots mass-produced within five years if advances in hardware and software keep up.
Samuel W. Mccandless - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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RADARSAT-2 for Search and Rescue
Automatic Target Recognition IX, 1999Co-Authors: Brian Gilliam, Samuel W. Mccandless, Lawrence Reeves, Barton D. HuxtableAbstract:Search and Rescue operations are often characterized by the need to Search for a relatively small craft (airplane or boat), and the Search may have to consider a large area when emergency location beacons have failed. The ability to locate the crash site quickly is critical to any survivors: their probability of survival decreases rapidly following the accident. Ground and airborne Search and Rescue operations can be hampered by inclement weather or the size or remoteness of the area to be Searched. Synthetic aperture radar satellites, with the ability to image large swaths of the earth's surface through any weather condition, may offer valuable assistance. RADARSAT-2, to be launched in February, 2002, will provide users with advanced SAR imagery, having fully polarimetric modes and resolutions as fine as 3 meters. In this paper, the suitability of synthetic aperture radar satellites for support of Search and Rescue operations is analyzed, specifically considering the capabilities of Canada's RADARSAT-2 satellite.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
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Search and Rescue from space
Automatic Target Recognition VIII, 1998Co-Authors: Ronald G. Wallace, David W. Affens, Samuel W. MccandlessAbstract:The NASA Search and Rescue Mission was originated to develop a space-based emergency beacon detection system. The Sarsat system, along with its Russian counterpart -- Cospas, is highly successful and credited with the saving of over 8,000 lives worldwide during its 16 years of operation. Now, new techniques are emerging which may make it possible to locate downed aircraft wreckage from space without the need for a functioning emergency beacon. This paper reviews existing space and airborne systems and discusses the potential for space borne application of recent advances in techniques for interferometric SAR, coherent change detection, real time processing and polarimetric ATR to the Search and Rescue problem.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
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Beaconless Search and Rescue using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar
AIP Conference Proceedings, 1996Co-Authors: Samuel W. Mccandless, Ronald G. Wallace, Barton D. Huxtable, Arthur W. Mansfield, Rudolph K. Larsen, Houra RaisAbstract:In developing a beaconless Search and Rescue capability to quickly locate small aircraft that have crashed in remote areas, NASA’s Search and Rescue (S&R) Program brings together advanced polarimetric synthetic aperture radar processing, field and laboratory tests, and state‐of‐the‐art automated target detection algorithms. This paper provides the status of this program, which began with experiments conducted in concert with the JPL DC‐8 AirSAR in 1989 at the Duke University Forest. The program is being conducted by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) under the auspices of the Search and Rescue Office.
Houra Rais - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Beaconless Search and Rescue overview: history, development, and achievements
Automatic Target Recognition VII, 1997Co-Authors: Ronald G. Wallace, David W. Affens, Houra RaisAbstract:The NASA Search and Rescue Mission at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is carrying out a technology development project intended to complement the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite-based distress alerting and locating system. This system is based on emergency radio beacons and cannot function when beacons fail to operate. The beaconless Search and Rescue concept utilizes an airborne or spaceborne remote sensing instrument, such as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), to aid in Searching for downed aircraft in remote regions when no beacon is present. Compared with conventional visual Search, a radar-based system would be capable of dramatically improving crash site detection due to its wide area coverage and foliage penetration. Moreover, the performance of this system is unaffected by weather conditions and ambient light level and hence it offers quick response time which is vital to the survival of crash victims. The Search and Rescue Mission has conducted a series of field experiments using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's airborne SAR system (AIRSAR) which has demonstrated the technical feasibility of using SAR. The SAR data processing software (SARDPS) developed at GSFC is used to produce high-quality SAR images for post-processing and analysis. Currently various elements of an operational system are being investigated, including a SAR designed specifically to meet Search and Rescue needs, real-time or near-real time on-board SAR processing, and processing algorithms for advanced automatic crash site detection, image geo- rectification and map registration.
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Beaconless Search and Rescue using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar
AIP Conference Proceedings, 1996Co-Authors: Samuel W. Mccandless, Ronald G. Wallace, Barton D. Huxtable, Arthur W. Mansfield, Rudolph K. Larsen, Houra RaisAbstract:In developing a beaconless Search and Rescue capability to quickly locate small aircraft that have crashed in remote areas, NASA’s Search and Rescue (S&R) Program brings together advanced polarimetric synthetic aperture radar processing, field and laboratory tests, and state‐of‐the‐art automated target detection algorithms. This paper provides the status of this program, which began with experiments conducted in concert with the JPL DC‐8 AirSAR in 1989 at the Duke University Forest. The program is being conducted by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) under the auspices of the Search and Rescue Office.
Ronald G. Wallace - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Search and Rescue from space
Automatic Target Recognition VIII, 1998Co-Authors: Ronald G. Wallace, David W. Affens, Samuel W. MccandlessAbstract:The NASA Search and Rescue Mission was originated to develop a space-based emergency beacon detection system. The Sarsat system, along with its Russian counterpart -- Cospas, is highly successful and credited with the saving of over 8,000 lives worldwide during its 16 years of operation. Now, new techniques are emerging which may make it possible to locate downed aircraft wreckage from space without the need for a functioning emergency beacon. This paper reviews existing space and airborne systems and discusses the potential for space borne application of recent advances in techniques for interferometric SAR, coherent change detection, real time processing and polarimetric ATR to the Search and Rescue problem.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
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Beaconless Search and Rescue overview: history, development, and achievements
Automatic Target Recognition VII, 1997Co-Authors: Ronald G. Wallace, David W. Affens, Houra RaisAbstract:The NASA Search and Rescue Mission at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is carrying out a technology development project intended to complement the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite-based distress alerting and locating system. This system is based on emergency radio beacons and cannot function when beacons fail to operate. The beaconless Search and Rescue concept utilizes an airborne or spaceborne remote sensing instrument, such as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), to aid in Searching for downed aircraft in remote regions when no beacon is present. Compared with conventional visual Search, a radar-based system would be capable of dramatically improving crash site detection due to its wide area coverage and foliage penetration. Moreover, the performance of this system is unaffected by weather conditions and ambient light level and hence it offers quick response time which is vital to the survival of crash victims. The Search and Rescue Mission has conducted a series of field experiments using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's airborne SAR system (AIRSAR) which has demonstrated the technical feasibility of using SAR. The SAR data processing software (SARDPS) developed at GSFC is used to produce high-quality SAR images for post-processing and analysis. Currently various elements of an operational system are being investigated, including a SAR designed specifically to meet Search and Rescue needs, real-time or near-real time on-board SAR processing, and processing algorithms for advanced automatic crash site detection, image geo- rectification and map registration.
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Beaconless Search and Rescue using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar
AIP Conference Proceedings, 1996Co-Authors: Samuel W. Mccandless, Ronald G. Wallace, Barton D. Huxtable, Arthur W. Mansfield, Rudolph K. Larsen, Houra RaisAbstract:In developing a beaconless Search and Rescue capability to quickly locate small aircraft that have crashed in remote areas, NASA’s Search and Rescue (S&R) Program brings together advanced polarimetric synthetic aperture radar processing, field and laboratory tests, and state‐of‐the‐art automated target detection algorithms. This paper provides the status of this program, which began with experiments conducted in concert with the JPL DC‐8 AirSAR in 1989 at the Duke University Forest. The program is being conducted by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) under the auspices of the Search and Rescue Office.
Geert De Cubber - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Search and Rescue Robotics - From Theory to Practice
2017Co-Authors: Geert De Cubber, Daniela Doroftei, Konrad Rudin, Karsten Berns, Daniel Serrano, José Manoel Morales Sánchez, Shashank Govindaraj, Janusz Bedkowski, Rui RodaAbstract:In the event of large crises (earthquakes, typhoons, floods, . . . ), a primordial task of the fire and Rescue services is the Search for human survivors on the incident site. This is a complex and dangerous task, which - too often - leads to loss of lives among the human crisis managers themselves. This book explains how unmanned Search can be added to the toolkit of the Search and Rescue workers, offering a valuable tool to save human lives and to speed up the Search and Rescue process. The introduction of robotic tools in the world of Search and Rescue is not straightforward, due to the fact that the Search and Rescue context is extremely technology-unfriendly, meaning that very robust solutions, which can be deployed extremely quickly, are required. Multiple reSearch projects across the world are tackling this problem and in this book, a special focus is placed on showcasing the results of the European Union ICARUS project on this subject. The ICARUS project proposes to equip first responders with a comprehensive and integrated set of unmanned Search and Rescue tools, to increase the situational awareness of human crisis managers, so that more work can be done in a shorter amount of time. The ICARUS tools consist of assistive unmanned air, ground, and sea vehicles, equipped with victim-detection sensors. The unmanned vehicles collaborate as a coordinated team, communicating via ad hoc cognitive radio networking. To ensure optimal human-robot collaboration, these tools are seamlessly integrated into the command and control equipment of the human crisis managers and a set of training and support tools is provided to them in order to learn to use the ICARUS system. The reSearch leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement number 285417. The publishing of this book was funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access Pilot programme.
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integrated data management for a fleet of Search and Rescue robots
Journal of Field Robotics, 2017Co-Authors: Haris Balta, Daniel Serrano, Shashank Govindaraj, Janusz Bedkowski, Karol Majek, Pawel Musialik, Kostas Alexis, Roland Siegwart, Geert De CubberAbstract:Search-and-Rescue operations have recently been confronted with the introduction of robotic tools that assist the human Search-and-Rescue workers in their dangerous but life-saving job of Searching for human survivors after major catastrophes. However, the world of Search and Rescue is highly reliant on strict procedures for the transfer of messages, alarms, data, and command and control over the deployed assets. The introduction of robotic tools into this world causes an important structural change in this procedural toolchain. Moreover, the introduction of Search-and-Rescue robots acting as data gatherers could potentially lead to an information overload toward the human Search-and-Rescue workers, if the data acquired by these robotic tools are not managed in an intelligent way. With that in mind, we present in this paper an integrated data combination and data management architecture that is able to accommodate real-time data gathered by a fleet of robotic vehicles on a crisis site, and we present and publish these data in a way that is easy to understand by end-users. In the scope of this paper, a fleet of unmanned ground and aerial Search-and-Rescue vehicles is considered, developed within the scope of the European ICARUS project. As a first step toward the integrated data-management methodology, the different robotic systems require an interoperable framework in order to pass data from one to another and toward the unified command and control station. As a second step, a data fusion methodology will be presented, combining the data acquired by the different heterogenic robotic systems. The computation needed for this process is done in a novel mobile data center and then (as a third step) published in a software as a service (SaaS) model. The SaaS model helps in providing access to robotic data over ubiquitous Ethernet connections. As a final step, we show how the presented data-management architecture allows for reusing recorded exercises with real robots and Rescue teams for training purposes and teaching Search-and-Rescue personnel how to handle the different robotic tools. The system was validated in two experiments. First, in the controlled environment of a military testing base, a fleet of unmanned ground and aerial vehicles was deployed in an earthquake-response scenario. The data gathered by the different interoperable robotic systems were combined by a novel mobile data center and presented to the end-user public. Second, an unmanned aerial system was deployed on an actual mission with an international relief team to help with the relief operations after major flooding in Bosnia in the spring of 2014. Due to the nature of the event (floods), no ground vehicles were deployed here, but all data acquired by the aerial system (mainly three-dimensional maps) were stored in the ICARUS data center, where they were securely published for authorized personnel all over the world. This mission (which is, to our knowledge, the first recorded deployment of an unmanned aerial system by an official governmental international Search-and-Rescue team in another country) proved also the concept of the procedural integration of the ICARUS data management system into the existing procedural toolchain of the Search and Rescue workers, and this in an international context (deployment from Belgium to Bosnia). The feedback received from the Search-and-Rescue personnel on both validation exercises was highly positive, proving that the ICARUS data management system can efficiently increase the situational awareness of the Search-and-Rescue personnel.
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Integrated Data Management for a Fleet of Search‐and‐Rescue Robots
Journal of Field Robotics, 2016Co-Authors: Haris Balta, Daniel Serrano, Shashank Govindaraj, Janusz Bedkowski, Karol Majek, Pawel Musialik, Kostas Alexis, Roland Siegwart, Geert De CubberAbstract:Search-and-Rescue operations have recently been confronted with the introduction of robotic tools that assist the human Search-and-Rescue workers in their dangerous but life-saving job of Searching for human survivors after major catastrophes. However, the world of Search and Rescue is highly reliant on strict procedures for the transfer of messages, alarms, data, and command and control over the deployed assets. The introduction of robotic tools into this world causes an important structural change in this procedural toolchain. Moreover, the introduction of Search-and-Rescue robots acting as data gatherers could potentially lead to an information overload toward the human Search-and-Rescue workers, if the data acquired by these robotic tools are not managed in an intelligent way. With that in mind, we present in this paper an integrated data combination and data management architecture that is able to accommodate real-time data gathered by a fleet of robotic vehicles on a crisis site, and we present and publish these data in a way that is easy to understand by end-users. In the scope of this paper, a fleet of unmanned ground and aerial Search-and-Rescue vehicles is considered, developed within the scope of the European ICARUS project. As a first step toward the integrated data-management methodology, the different robotic systems require an interoperable framework in order to pass data from one to another and toward the unified command and control station. As a second step, a data fusion methodology will be presented, combining the data acquired by the different heterogenic robotic systems. The computation needed for this process is done in a novel mobile data center and then (as a third step) published in a software as a service (SaaS) model. The SaaS model helps in providing access to robotic data over ubiquitous Ethernet connections. As a final step, we show how the presented data-management architecture allows for reusing recorded exercises with real robots and Rescue teams for training purposes and teaching Search-and-Rescue personnel how to handle the different robotic tools. The system was validated in two experiments. First, in the controlled environment of a military testing base, a fleet of unmanned ground and aerial vehicles was deployed in an earthquake-response scenario. The data gathered by the different interoperable robotic systems were combined by a novel mobile data center and presented to the end-user public. Second, an unmanned aerial system was deployed on an actual mission with an international relief team to help with the relief operations after major flooding in Bosnia in the spring of 2014. Due to the nature of the event (floods), no ground vehicles were deployed here, but all data acquired by the aerial system (mainly three-dimensional maps) were stored in the ICARUS data center, where they were securely published for authorized personnel all over the world. This mission (which is, to our knowledge, the first recorded deployment of an unmanned aerial system by an official governmental international Search-and-Rescue team in another country) proved also the concept of the procedural integration of the ICARUS data management system into the existing procedural toolchain of the Search and Rescue workers, and this in an international context (deployment from Belgium to Bosnia). The feedback received from the Search-and-Rescue personnel on both validation exercises was highly positive, proving that the ICARUS data management system can efficiently increase the situational awareness of the Search-and-Rescue personnel.
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Designing Search and Rescue Robots towards Realistic User Requirements
Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2014Co-Authors: Daniela Doroftei, Anibal Matos, Geert De CubberAbstract:In the event of a large crisis (think about typhoon Haiyan or the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan), a primordial task of the Rescue services is the Search for human survivors on the incident site. This is a complex and dangerous task, which often leads to loss of lives among the human crisis managers themselves. The introduction of unmanned Search and Rescue devices can offer a valuable tool to save human lives and to speed up the Search and Rescue process. In this context, the EU-FP7-ICARUS project [1] concentrates on the development of unmanned Search and Rescue technologies for detecting, locating and rescuing humans.A main factor which explains why there is so little robotic technology applied on the terrain in real-life Search and Rescue operations, is that the complex nature and difficult operating conditions of Search and Rescue operations pose heavy constraints on the mechanical design of the unmanned platforms. In this paper, we discuss the different user requirements which have an impact of the design of the mechanical systems (air, ground and marine robots). We show how these user requirements are obtained, how they are validated, how they lead to design specifications for operational prototypes which are tested in realistic operational conditions and we show how the final mechanical design specifications are derived from these different steps. An important aspect of all these design steps which is emphasized in this paper is to always keep the end-users (in this case the Search and Rescue workers) in the loop in order to come to realistic requirements and mechanical design specifications, ensuring the practical deployability [2] of the developed platforms.
