Engineering a search and rescue application with a wireless sensor network - based localization mechanism

The advent of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies is paving the way for a panoply of new ubiquitous computing applications, some of them with critical requirements. In the ART-WiSe framework, we are designing a two-tiered communication architecture for supporting real-time and reliable communications in WSNs. Within this context, we have been developing a test-bed application, for testing, validating and demonstrating our theoretical findings - a search&rescue/pursuit-evasion application. Basically, a WSN deployment is used to detect, localize and track a target robot and a station controls a rescuer/pursuer robot until it gets close enough to the target robot. This paper describes how this application was engineered, particularly focusing on the implementation of the localization mechanism.

Development of an Unmanned Capsule for large-scale maritime search and rescue

This paper describes the development and testing of a robotic capsule for search and rescue operations at sea. This capsule is able to operate autonomously or remotely controlled, is transported and deployed by a larger USV into a determined disaster area and is used to carry a life raft and inflate it close to survivors in large-scale maritime disasters. The ultimate goal of this development is to endow search and rescue teams with tools that extend their operational capability in scenarios with adverse atmospheric or maritime conditions.

Report of the Caribbean subregional meetings on maritime search and rescue

Informe de las reuniones subregionales sobre coordinacion de los servicios de busqueda y salvamento maritimo, convocadas por la Organizacion Maritima Internacional y CEPAL: 1) Reunion del Caribe Sur-Central (Kingston, Jamaica, 6-8 octubre de 1982); 2) Reunion del Caribe Oeste (Ciudad de Mexico, 13-15 octubre de 1982); y 3) Reunion del Caribe Sur (Puerto Espana, 8-11 noviembre de 1982).

Report of the Second Meeting on Maritime Search and Rescue in the Western Caribbean Subregion

Presenta los acuerdos propuestos en la reunion, acerca de los limites desde la costa hasta la frontera con los paises vecinos, en lo que se refiere a responsabilidad en los servicios de busqueda y salvamento maritimo en America Central.

Air search and rescue : 63 years of aerial lifesaving : a pictorial history, 1915-1978.

"CG-522."

Search and rescue, satellite system.

Mode of access: Internet.

Fleet Management System for Search and Rescue Operations

Over one million people lost their lives in the last twenty years from natural disasters like wildfires, earthquakes and man-made disasters. In such scenarios the usage of a fleet of robots aims at the parallelization of the workload and thus increasing speed and capabilities to complete time sensitive missions. This work focuses on the development of a dynamic fleet management system, which consists in the management of multiple agents cooperating in order to accomplish tasks. We presented a Mixed Integer Programming problem for the management and planning of mission’s tasks. The problem was solved using both an exact and a heuristic approach. The latter is based on the idea of solving iteratively smaller instances of the complete problem. Alongside, a fast and efficient algorithm for estimation of travel times between tasks is proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed heuristic approach is able to generate quality solutions, within specific time limits, compared to the exact one.

NH90-helikopterin soveltuvuus Personnel Recovery –operaation suorittamiseen

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan Puolustusvoimien käyttämän NH90-kuljetushelikopterin soveltuvuutta Personnel Recovery -operaation CSAR-menetelmän kuljetusalustaksi. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, kuinka hyvin NH90-helikopteri vastaa Naton asettamiin vaatimuksiin taistelukentän etsintä- ja pelastustoimintaa suorittavalle kulje-tushelikopterille vertaamalla NH90-helikopterin laitteiden ja järjestelmien tuottamaa suorituskykyä Naton vaatimuksiin. Kyseessä on laadullinen tutkimus, jonka tutkimusstrategiana on käytetty tapaustutki-musta. Tutkielman lähdeaineiston rungon muodostavat kirjalliset lähteet, joita on tut-kittu käyttämällä aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysia. Tutkimuksen johtopäätökset on saatu vertailemalla eri alalukujen tuloksia keskenään. Lähdeaineistoista merkittävim-piä ovat Naton Personnel Recovery -toimintaa käsittelevät doktriinit sekä NH90-helikopteria ja sen ominaisuuksia käsittelevät valmistajan sekä Helikopteripataljoonan julkaisemat tekstit. Tärkeiden ominaisuuksien kohdalla tietoa on pyritty keräämään useammasta paikasta, ja näin parantamaan tutkielman luotettavuutta. Tutkimus osoittaa, että NH90-helikopteri soveltuu sodan ja kriisinaikaiseen etsintä- ja pelastustoimintaan hyvin. NH90-helikopterin suunnittelussa on pyritty ottamaan kat-tavasti huomioon nykyaikaisen sodankäynnin kuljetushelikoptereita vastaan asettamat uhkakuvat, jonka vuoksi se vastaa Naton asettamiin vaatimuksiin erinomaisesti. On kuitenkin huomioitava, että kyseessä on hyvin tuore helikopterityyppi, jonka todelli-nen käytännön testi karuissa olosuhteissa on vielä näkemättä. Tästä huolimatta voi-daan todeta, että NH90 on suunniteltu uhka-alueella toimivaksi monipuoliseksi ja muuntautumiskykyiseksi kuljetushelikopteriksi, jolla voidaan toteuttaa haastavia ope-raatioita vaikeissakin olosuhteissa. Vaikka tutkimus on hyvin teoreettinen, voidaan sen tuloksia pitää realistisina. Tutki-mus toimii hyvänä perustana etsintä- ja pelastustoimintaan liittyvissä asioissa, mutta aiheen laajuuden vuoksi jatkotutkimusta tarvitaan, jotta aiheeseen voidaan paneutua syvällisemmin, ja asiasta voidaan tehdä merkittäviä johtopäätöksiä.

A NATURALISTIC COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN NAVIGATION AND SEARCH TASKS

Planning, navigation, and search are fundamental human cognitive abilities central to spatial problem solving in search and rescue, law enforcement, and military operations. Despite a wealth of literature concerning naturalistic spatial problem solving in animals, literature on naturalistic spatial problem solving in humans is comparatively lacking and generally conducted by separate camps among which there is little crosstalk. Addressing this deficiency will allow us to predict spatial decision making in operational environments, and understand the factors leading to those decisions. The present dissertation is comprised of two related efforts, (1) a set of empirical research studies intended to identify characteristics of planning, execution, and memory in naturalistic spatial problem solving tasks, and (2) a computational modeling effort to develop a model of naturalistic spatial problem solving. The results of the behavioral studies indicate that problem space hierarchical representations are linear in shape, and that human solutions are produced according to multiple optimization criteria. The Mixed Criteria Model presented in this dissertation accounts for global and local human performance in a traditional and naturalistic Traveling Salesman Problem. The results of the empirical and modeling efforts hold implications for basic and applied science in domains such as problem solving, operations research, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.

Gene replacement with the human BRCA1 locus: tissue specific expression and rescue of embryonic lethality in mice

We have generated transgenic mice that harbor a 140 kb genomic fragment of the human BRCA1 locus (TgN.BRCA1(GEN)). We find that the transgene directs appropriate expression of human BRCA1 transcripts in multiple mouse tissues, and that human BRCA1 protein is expressed and stabilized following exposure to DIVA damage, Such mice are completely normal, with no overt signs of BRCA1 toxicity commonly observed when BRCA1 is expressed from heterologous promoters. Most importantly, however, the transgene rescues the otherwise lethal phenotype associated with the targeted hypomorphic allele (Brca1(Delta exIISA)). Brca1(-/-); TgN.BRCA1(GEN) bigenic animals develop normally and can be maintained as a distinct line. These results show that a 140 kb fragment of chromosome 17 contains all elements necessary for the correct expression, localization, and function of the BRCA1 protein, Further, the model provides evidence that function and regulation of the human BRCA1 gene can be studied and manipulated in a genetically tractable mammalian system.

Document retrieval for e-mail search and discovery using Formal Concept Analysis

This paper discusses a document discovery tool based on Conceptual Clustering by Formal Concept Analysis. The program allows users to navigate e-mail using a visual lattice metaphor rather than a tree. It implements a virtual. le structure over e-mail where files and entire directories can appear in multiple positions. The content and shape of the lattice formed by the conceptual ontology can assist in e-mail discovery. The system described provides more flexibility in retrieving stored e-mails than what is normally available in e-mail clients. The paper discusses how conceptual ontologies can leverage traditional document retrieval systems and aid knowledge discovery in document collections.

Self-adaptive combination of global tabu search and local search for nonlinear equations

Solving systems of nonlinear equations is a very important task since the problems emerge mostly through the mathematical modelling of real problems that arise naturally in many branches of engineering and in the physical sciences. The problem can be naturally reformulated as a global optimization problem. In this paper, we show that a self-adaptive combination of a metaheuristic with a classical local search method is able to converge to some difficult problems that are not solved by Newton-type methods.

Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks Training Through Charged System Search and its Application for Non-Technical Losses Detection

The non-technical loss is not a problem with trivial solution or regional character and its minimization represents the guarantee of investments in product quality and maintenance of power systems, introduced by a competitive environment after the period of privatization in the national scene. In this paper, we show how to improve the training phase of a neural network-based classifier using a recently proposed meta-heuristic technique called Charged System Search, which is based on the interactions between electrically charged particles. The experiments were carried out in the context of non-technical loss in power distribution systems in a dataset obtained from a Brazilian electrical power company, and have demonstrated the robustness of the proposed technique against with several others natureinspired optimization techniques for training neural networks. Thus, it is possible to improve some applications on Smart Grids.

ROAZ and ROAZ II Autonomous Surface Vehicle Design and Implementation

International Lifesaving Congress 2007, La Coruna, Spain, December, 2007