The project IDEALDRONE consists in realizing a prototype of an indoor tracking system for search and rescue operations following catastrophic events (earthquake, fire, etc.). This system is proposed as a fast, reliable, and low-cost solution to optimize the rescue operations carried out by firefighters and any other operator in the emergency sector.
The Principal Investigator has invented a system for indoor tracking that is able to detect victims inside buildings after a disaster (earthquake, fire, etc.) using a radio frequency system (UWB) based on fixed nodes (anchors) in the building to detect the location of wearable nodes (tags), while the innovative idea of this project is to install the anchors on an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) swarm that is flying around the building. In this case the system will provide indoor localization for managing emergencies without the need to install a structural health monitoring system (SHM) inside the building. A prototype has been realized and the final demonstration test was based on locating people inside the building using drones that are flying outside an industrial shed nearby the Flight Camp (Pegasus) of Busano near Turin airport. The test has been verified by an international panel of experts using drones that have been pilot by the research team of the PI.
