This document summarizes information about the Donegal Mountain Rescue Team and their use of drones for search and rescue (SAR) missions. The key points are: - The Donegal Mountain Rescue Team responds to 60% of SAR calls in high mountain and lowland regions and 40% along coastal mountain ranges in Ireland. They average 40-50 callouts per year. - They have begun using drones to help search large areas more quickly when time is critical, such as for injured or missing persons. Initial trials found drones could search an area in 7 minutes compared to 2 hours for a team. - They are developing techniques where the drone operator is centrally located to search grids in advance of ground

1. EENA Drone Summit
September 20th 2018
DONEGAL MOUNTAIN RESCUE TEAM

2. • 60% SAR response to high mountain / low land
regions
• Donegal land Mass : 4,861 km²
• 40% SAR response to coastal mountain ranges in
tandem with Irish coastguard units
• Injured & missing persons, dementia, despondency
& body recovery
• Average 40-50 callouts per year
• Northwest Region of Ireland

3. • 23 Team members
• 1 x Incident Control Vehicle (ICU)
• 1 x Search dog (Cody)
• 4 x SAR response vehicles (4x4’s)
• 1 x Team base (Glenveagh National Park)
• Deployed by An Garda Siochanna (Police)
• Multiple agency collaboration: IRCG, Aer Corp, Civil
Defence, SARDA
• Voluntary SAR service established 1982

4. Cost of SAR missions are High
Risk to personnel is High
Time Constraints Barriers
Where is the
subject matter…?
Dirty, Dull & Dangerous (3D’s)
Water mediums (lakes, rivers)
Steep ground, unstable surfaces
Trees, heavy vegetation, marsh

5. An aerial SAR K-9
• Drone OP & Drone ---- Dog Handler & search dog
• Search in advance of ground based search team
• Covers large tract of terrain in short time frame
• Specialist search technique requiring specialist training
• Requires additional team member to act as a “runner”
• Vital hasty search option when time is critical
Independent ----Agile----Quick----Sensory

6. In the beginning…..! Sheep
Drone ---- 7mins
Team ----- 2hrs
MCU
POI

7. Initial findings and issues…!
Casualty
Drone
Operator
Search Area Search process compromised Difficult to transport
No direct link to drone data from control Unit

8. Develop a search technique
Search Area
Parameters
Early stage FPV prototype Compact & portable
Incident Control Unit (ICU)
Drone
Operator
Casualty
Control
LKP
Team A
Team B
• Drone–Op centrally located
(high vantage point)
• Drone: search grids
along search corridor
• Drone works in advance
of ground team
• Ground team:
Purposeful wandering
• Live tracking of all SAR
assets
• Post flight analysis =
time delay

9. Reduce Risk & Reduce Time

10. Thermal / night SAR
Casualty
Search team

11. Interoperability with existing SAR protocols
• Robust communication system
• Pilot certified, compliant & trained
• First–person-view (FPV) visualisation tools
• Fusion of drone data feeds into one
operational interface shared by all SAR assets.
• Manned aircraft = NO LAUNCH
• Avoid drone pilot from being the sole
recipient, assessor and decision maker
of drone data

12. Drone pilot console & Live Web Browser
Live tracking
Drone data log
Live video
Communication channel
Multiple pilots
Multiple assessors

13. ▪ Crowdsourcing capability
▪ Update team members &
SAR agencies remotely
located from incident
▪ Shared drone track, imagery
& data log
▪ Magnification tool
▪ Tag & report function
▪ Post mission analysis
▪ Increased probability
of detection

14. • Establish a stand-alone drone team
• Practise & implement a drone response that’s
compatible with your SAR protocols
• “Plug and play” works best
• Adopt solutions that will increase probability
of detection (eg. Crowdsourcing).
• Be realistic about expectations & capabilities.
Recommendations

15. THANK YOU
murray.leo@gmail.com