AIRBORNE developed a drone equipped with two front edge sensor technologies adopted in avalanche scenarios, such as ARTVA and RECCO, for localisation of buried victims. The goal is to develop a platform, with autonomous navigation capabilities, able to speed up the localisation of the victims in areas hardly walkable and to allow the operator to remain at safe distance from the danger.
The need of a robust platform able to operate in unfriendly environments, with marked features in terms of transportability and easy deployment, motivated the development of innovative design concepts for the airframe that are beyond the state of the art. Furthermore, the need of integrating sensors compatible with the drone in terms of EMI motivated the the development of new antennae, shielding systems and electronics fully integrated with the aerial platform.
Overall the impact of the project is disruptive in terms of social, economical and technological impact. The potential social impact of AIRBORNE is, in fact, enormous due to the expected implications for saving people’s lives and increasing people’s safety, during both leisure/sport/free-time activities and in disaster scenarios. In terms of economic impact AIRBORNE has the potential to reduce the cost of S&R operations, thereby saving S&R teams, operators, and public/private funders large amounts of money and making them more efficient and sustainable in the long term. In terms of technology, AIRBORNE had significant technological impact through the research, design, innovation, testing, and refining of unmatched technological features for robustness and the ability to operate in extreme environments and weather conditions.
