The Application of Unmanned Marine Vehicles to Maritime Search and Rescue

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SURV9 –Surveillance, Search
and Rescue Craft Conference
18th April 2018, London, UK
THE APPLICATION OF
UNMANNED MARINE
VEHICLES TO MARITIME
SEARCH AND RESCUE
John Dalziel, M.Sc., P.Eng., MRINA, Adjunct Professor
Ronald Pelot, PhD., P.Eng., Professor
Department of Industrial Engineering

THE APPLICATION OF UMVs TO SAR
OUTLINE
• Introduction
• Technology
• Safety of Search & Rescue Personnel
• Improving Rescue Response
• How Unmanned Marine Vehicles Could Help
• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Challenges
• The Way Forward
• A Final Thought
THE APPLICATION OF UNMANNED MARINE VEHICLES TO MARITIME SAR
SURV9 - Surveillance, Search and Rescue Craft, 18 April 2018, London, UK
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INTRODUCTION
• The technology supporting Unmanned Vehicles -
land, sea and air - is rapidly improving.
• Unmanned vehicles, land and air, are making
large inroads into Search and Rescue (SAR)
response.
• In the near future, Unmanned Marine Vehicles
(UMVs) will likely play a role in Maritime SAR
response.
• Do UMVs have a potential role in Maritime SAR
Systems?
and if so,
• What roles could they fulfill?
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TECHNOLOGY
REGULATORY REGIME
• International Regulatory regime currently in a state of
transition.
• IMO has started a scoping exercise to determine what
regulatory change might be needed to accommodate
‘Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships’ (MASS).
• Some Current Regulatory ‘guidelines’
• Lloyd’s Register ‘Code for Unmanned Marine
Systems’ (Feb 2017)
• UK MCA Voluntary Code for ‘Maritime Autonomous
Surface Ships’ (Nov 2017).
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TECHNOLOGY
CONTROL / COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
• Control of UMV from ‘mother’ vessel (alternatively
a shore base) using a ‘Line of Sight’
communication link.
• Operator at remote station uses ‘First Person View’
– as if he is onboard front-line vessel without the
hazard of being there. (Diagram - ASV Global)
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TECHNOLOGY
CONTROL / COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Longer Range Systems
• Maritime Broadband
Radio system- with
aircraft link (up to 180
NM)
• Satellite based system
integrating several
floating devices with
shore based office.
(Diagrams – Kongsberg)
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TECHNOLOGY
STUDIES & EXERCISES
• Multi-Nation ICARUS Project; EU - simulated rescue
demonstration in Portugal 2015
• UNMANNED WARRIOR 2016; Royal Navy & partners
- pushed forward an understanding of the
interoperability of various UMVs with conventional
assets, their operational advantages and limitations.
(Photo – ASV Global website / Diagram - ICARUS)
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TECHNOLOGY
SMALL UMVs
• ‘EMILY’, (Emergency Integrated
Lifesaving Lanyard) – originally
designed for surf / beach rescue
(Hydronalix website)
• AGaPaS (Autonomous Galileo-
supported Rescue Vessel) MOB
device to be deployed from an
offshore platform or ship.
(Rostock Univ)
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TECHNOLOGY
SMALL UMVs
• Canadian hydrographic
launch converted for
unmanned operation.
(Photo – ASV Global)
• GARC - (Greenough
Advanced Rescue Craft)
12 to 14 ft, gas or diesel,
manned or unmanned,
air deployable
(Photo - GARC with Marines, MAPC)
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TECHNOLOGY
LARGE UMVs
‘SEA HUNTER’
• US prototype 130 ft
unmanned subchaser
• Illustrated with Talon kite
electronics system giving
a greatly extended range
of view
• Stated daily operational
cost $ 20K or less
(versus $700 K for a
destroyer)
(Photo - DARPA)
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TECHNOLOGY
LARGE UMVs
Proposed Large UMVs
• ‘Hronn’ – 37 M Light duty
offshore vessel
(Kongsberg/ASL/Bourbon)
• 60 M Offshore patrol,
surveillance vessel
(Rolls Royce)
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SAFETY OF SAR PERSONNEL
Near-Shore Rescue Risks
KNRM ‘Anna Margaretha’
Capsize - Nov 1, 2006
• 18.8 M ‘Arie Visser’ class RHIB
• Capsized in heavy breaking
seas.
• Self-righted, no loss of life.
• Artist impressions from page 6
of report.
(Ref – KNRM report, English, ‘Capsize & Survival’)
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Decision Whether to Launch Rescue Boat
• “Search and rescue is always a fine balance between
courageous intervention and managed risk.”
• As HMCS Shawinigan departed the Arctic…boat
crews struggled in reduced visibility and surf
attempting to rescue freezing hunters… the Captain
made a heartfelt but correct decision to suspend
further attempts. The probability of adding more
casualties to the emergency could not be risked.
(Note - Hunters rescued following day)
(Source - Admiral’s View, Lessons in Tragedy; 13 Oct 2016)
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Decision Whether to Launch Rescue Boat
Loss of crew (4) and (3 ) rescued fishermen from German Sea
Rescue Cruiser ‘Adolph Bermphol’ & daughter boat ‘Vegesack’
23 February 1967
• Daughter boat launched with 2 crew, leaving 2 crew on mother
vessel. Three Dutch fishermen rescued.
• Hurricane force winds, local navigation marks extinguished.
• While attempting to recover daughter boat, two crew on mother
vessel swept overboard; subsequently all persons lost.
(From Maritime Court of Bremerhaven, as reported in Proceedings of 10thInt’l
Lifeboat Conf., France, June 1967, pages 249 – 262)
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Safety of SAR Techs
• SAR Techs parachuted
into sea to assist
persons stranded in a
small boat (Oct. 2011)
• Seven (7) hours later
picked up by helicopter
which had flown 2,200
km – one SAR Tech had
perished.
(Source- RCAF report)
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Fire response - Hazardous environment risks
Lisco Gloria fire in Baltic 2010, emergency vessel
withdrew after detecting highly toxic gases.
(BSU Report, p29) (Photo - AP)
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IMPROVING RESCUE RESPONSE
Recovery of Personnel from the Sea
Rescue of crew of FV Atlantic Charger from
Liferaft - N.E. Labrador Coast
• A ship was able to get a line hooked on to the life raft
and hold it alongside, but because of the rolling of the
big ore carrier, the fishermen decided it was too
dangerous to climb the ship’s side.
• About another hour later, a trawler arrived - it had a
crane and a rescue boat to launch given this kind of
weather. Two at a time, the fishermen were rescued.
(Source - National Post, Sept 2015)
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Rescue of Survivors from ferry Estonia – 1994
• 989 persons onboard ESTONIA, about 300 reported to
have made it to open decks, 138 survivors, of which
only 34 rescued directly by ships.
• “After some time, the (ferry) ISABELLA opened a port
in the hull and released a slide. The people in the
water … were helped up onto the slide by other crew
members. Sixteen people from this raft were rescued
this way”.
• “The lifesaving equipment of vessels participating in
the rescue operation proved unsuitable for rescuing
people from the water in the prevailing heavy weather
conditions.”
(Source – JAIC Final Report - Ferry Estonia)
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Man Overboard Response
(AIS - Spirit of Tasmania I, after MOB, 2016)
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IMO Guidance
• It may be unsafe – or simply impossible – to bring
survivors alongside your ship directly. You may have to
find another way of reaching them. One way to do this
is to launch a rescue craft…
• Ultimately, however, the only option may be to
abandon the attempt at recovery and to stand by,
supplying whatever assistance you can until a more
capable recovery unit arrives or conditions ease
(IMO MSC.1/Circ.1182 ‘Guide to Recovery Techniques’)
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Remote Region Response
Canadian Arctic Marine Traffic – 1 Sept 2017
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Canadian Arctic Marine Traffic – 15 Sept 2017
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Eastern Arctic & Labrador SAR Incidents
2009 – 2013 (SISAR Database)
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Count
Incident
Severity Class
East-
ern
Arctic
Labra-
dor
Coast
M1(Distress) 11 5
M2(Potential
Distress) 7 7
M3(Non-
Distress) 18 36
Total 36 48

'If we have a major incident up
here, we are in a very bad
position to be able to respond.’
(Nunavut Official speaking to CBC -
7 March 2016)
How to provide adequate
SAR response resources?
• Large area
• Far from infrastructure and
population
• Adverse weather
• Limited traffic and incidents
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Navigation in Conditions Unsafe for a Rescue
Vessel
• Unsafe sea conditions
• Near Shore – surf, rocks, lee shore, navigational
hazards
• Offshore hazards such as reefs, pack ice (potentially
with multi-year ice) in poor sea conditions
• Able to operate in other hazards such as toxic gas
environments.
• Able to proceed at greater speeds without endangering
human life – heavy weather (crew fatigue, safety);
poor visibility (hazards such as ‘growlers’, or large
floating debris)
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Assisting to Recover Personnel
• Launch from a rescue vessel in all weather conditions
• Recover in most weather conditions
• Recover survivors from liferafts, small boats
• Recover persons from the water
• Recover persons from shoreline
• Marshal any liferafts to bring them alongside.
• Rapid man overboard response
• High speed SAR response, based from a conventional
ship.
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Increasing the Breadth
of the Search Track
• TOP - Search track
breadth with Lifeboat
& UMV
• BOTTOM - Search
track breadth with
Lifeboat & UMV with
Aerial Device -
(Drone, Kite, Balloon)
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Launch from shore to assist in near-shore incidents
• Quick response without putting lifeguards in danger
• Near-shore response without putting SAR personnel
in danger
(Photos of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia - CTV, W Hoeg / Torstar, A.Vaughn, CP)
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Deploy from aircraft
• Assist survivors / SAR personnel in the sea
• Augment SAR resources in remote regions
(GARC being deployed; Maritime Applied Physics Corp (MAPC) USA)
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
• High speed Patrol Vessel (speed may be reduced in
heavy weather conditions)
or
• Using a UMV to give high speed SAR response
capability, based from a conventional ship.
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Stand-Alone Vessel
• Increase response capability by having UMV(s)
prepositioned to work in Remote Regions in
conjunction with other SAR / environmental response
resources.
• A range of possible operating scenarios, vessel
designs, vessel capabilities.
• What can it do? What can it not do? Reasonable
expectations.
• Operating to provide initial rescue assistance, or,
prepositioned to allow a crew to board (from a remote
base, or air deployed SAR Techs).
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HOW UMVs COULD HELP
Fire response - Hazardous
environment risks
• Attend fires closeup in
potentially hazardous
atmospheres
• Deploy remotely for initial
response to fire / pollution
incidents
(Kongsberg, Robt. Allan Ltd)
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APPLICATION OF UMVs TO SAR
Cost- Benefit Analysis
• Costs
• Capital, (including up-front training)
• Operational
• Other?
• Quantifiable benefits
• Improved rescue response, shorter duration of
rescue efforts
• Lowered capital and operational costs to meet SAR
needs
• Intangible benefits – reduced loss of life
• Rescuees
• SAR personnel
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TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
• Recovery of UMV by a ship (particularly in heavy
weather)
• How to assist someone who is not able to assist
themselves (for example, due to hypothermia)?
(Recovery of person by AGaPaS MOB system – (Rostock U.,TU Berlin)
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OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES
Barriers to Introduction
• Lack of understanding at management and front-line
personnel levels of:
• Potential roles of UMVs in a SAR system
• Possible benefits of introducing UMVs
• How to integrate UMVs into a comprehensive SAR
system
• Initial and ongoing training requirements
• Appreciation of limitations, what ‘failures’ should be
expected, corrective action, training as to limitations.
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THE WAY FORWARD
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Promote Future Technologies
• Consider possible benefits of Unmanned Technologies
to SAR
• Improving rescue response
• Increasing safety of SAR personnel
• Cost-benefit analysis; (a key benefit being reduced
loss of life).
• Learning the lessons from ‘Unmanned Warrior’ -
promote an ‘Unmanned Rescuer’?
• World Maritime Rescue Congress, Vancouver, June
2019 - “Learning from the Past; Looking to the Future”

THE WAY FORWARD
The Technology for
Unmanned Marine Vehicles
already exists – what is
needed is practical ‘hands-
on’ evaluation of its
application by SAR
organizations.
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A FINAL THOUGHT
In the continuum of rescue response, which
ranges from nothing to being in the emergency
room of a major medical facility, the UMV would
likely fall somewhere between nothing and a
manned rescue boat.
However, to a person in the water, the
Unmanned Marine Vehicle would most likely
appear to be a massive improvement on
nothing.
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CONTACT
John W. Dalziel, M.Sc., P.Eng. MRINA
Dept. of Industrial Engineering
Dalhousie University
PO Box 15,000
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3H 4R2
902-817-4119
john.dalziel@dal.ca
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
(RHIB converted for unmanned operation, at ‘Unmanned Warrior’ – ASV Global / BAE)
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