11,706 research outputs found
Multiservice UAVs for Emergency Tasks in Post-disaster Scenarios
UAVs are increasingly being employed to carry out surveillance, parcel
delivery, communication-support and other specific tasks. Their equipment and
mission plan are carefully selected to minimize the carried load an overall
resource consumption. Typically, several single task UAVs are dispatched to
perform different missions. In certain cases, (part of) the geographical area
of operation may be common to these single task missions (such as those
supporting post-disaster recovery) and it may be more efficient to have
multiple tasks carried out as part of a single UAV mission using common or even
additional specialized equipment.
In this paper, we propose and investigate a joint planning of multitask
missions leveraging a fleet of UAVs equipped with a standard set of accessories
enabling heterogeneous tasks. To this end, an optimization problem is
formulated yielding the optimal joint planning and deriving the resulting
quality of the delivered tasks. In addition, a heuristic solution is developed
for large-scale environments to cope with the increased complexity of the
optimization framework. The developed joint planning of multitask missions is
applied to a specific post-disaster recovery scenario of a flooding in the San
Francisco area. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed solutions
and the potential savings in the number of UAVs needed to carry out all the
tasks with the required level of quality
How much does a man cost? A dirty, dull, and dangerous application
Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This study illuminates the many abilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). One area of importance includes the UAV's capability to assist in the development, implementation, and execution of crisis management. This research focuses on UAV uses in pre and post crisis planning and accomplishments. The accompaniment of unmanned vehicles with base teams can make crisis management plans more reliable for the general public and teams faced with tasks such as search and rescue and firefighting. In the fight for mass acceptance of UAV integration, knowledge and attitude inventories were collected and analyzed. Methodology includes mixed method research collected by interviews and questionnaires available to experts and ground teams in the UAV fields, mining industry, firefighting and police force career field, and general city planning crisis management members. This information was compiled to assist professionals in creation of general guidelines and recommendations for how to utilize UAVs in crisis management planning and implementation as well as integration of UAVs into the educational system. The results from this study show the benefits and disadvantages of strategically giving UAVs a role in the construction and implementation of crisis management plans and other areas of interest. The results also show that the general public is lacking information and education on the abilities of UAVs. This education gap shows a correlation with negative attitudes towards UAVs. Educational programs to teach the public benefits of UAV integration should be implemented
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