In numerous disasters, such as gas explosions or various natural disasters, buildings (partially) collapse, making the search for missing persons a dangerous and often difficult undertaking. The goal of the UAV Rescue project, funded by the Austrian security research program KIRAS, was to develop an experimental UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) reconnaissance system that provides the emergency services with a complete tactical map of the situation in real time without having to enter the rubble areas. In addition, the system can create a 3D environment model of the operational area for detailed analyses.

After the official end of the project on 31.07. and the final event last week, we can now proudly announce: goal achieved!

On July 27th, the final event of the FFG project took place together with the German consortium (thanks to the "Kooperative R&D" funding scheme) at the Tritolwerk, the disaster relief training ground of the Austrian Armed Forces. The final event started with presentations by the project consortium and the sponsors, after which the system was presented in action. The Austrian project partners showed an outdoor application scenario, namely a LIDAR scan (Light Detection And Ranging) with damage detection of the area and airborne hazardous substance monitoring. The colleagues from Germany presented the semi-autonomous search for survivors with the drone as an indoor scenario.

The afternoon was devoted to the final meetings of the Austrian and German consortia. In this context, René Kastner also presented the results of the exercise evaluation, which was led by the DCNA.

We would like to thank all participants for this exciting day and the great, transnational cooperation. A comprehensive exchange of knowledge took place, especially with regard to the ethical aspects of the solution and the technical part. We look forward to future cooperation!

UAV Rescue is funded under the KIRAS security research funding program of the Federal Ministry of Finance.