Source
Article:
sUAS
News Staff. (2016, February 23). UAV Challenge Medical Express 2016. sUAS
News. Retrieved from http://www.suasnews.com/2015/02/uav-challenge-medical-express-2016/
From 2007 to 2014, an annual competition
known as the UAV Outback Challenge was organized by the Australian Research
Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA).
The competition was staged out of Kingaroy Airport in Queensland,
Australia. The UAV Outback Challenge’s
goal was for teams operating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to conduct a search
and rescue (SAR) mission into the Australian Outback and drop a water bottle
within a designated zone. Teams were
awarded points based on mission time, accuracy of task performance, and
technical merit of the team’s aircraft (Roberts et al., 2015, p. 2-3).
The main task of the competition
centers on “Outback Joe”. “Outback Joe”
is a colorfully attired dummy placed in a remote location in the Queensland
Outback. The competitors’ tasks are to operate
a UAS to locate the dummy and then perform a specific task. From 2007 to 2014, the task was to drop a
water bottle within a 100 meter radius from “Outback Joe”. In 2014, four teams successfully completed
the objectives of the competition (Roberts et al, 2015, p. 2,4). In 2015, ARCAA announced a successor
competition named the UAV Challenge Medical Express to be held in Dalby,
Queensland. The objectives of the
contest will be for competitors to operate up to two UAS simultaneously to
locate “Outback Joe”, land near the dummy, allow a contest official to load a
simulated blood sample onto the aircraft, and return the UAS and payload safely
to the point of origin (sUAS News Staff, 2016).
The search area will be larger than the previous contest and the complexity
of the contest has increased. The terrain
that “Outback Joe” will be set will also require UAS to be capable of vertical
take-off and landing (UAV Challenge Staff, 2016).
The contests held by ARCAA
demonstrate the utility of unmanned aircraft in SAR roles. The tasks are realistic, challenging, and
inspire innovation by the competitors.
The lessons learned and usefulness demonstrated by the competing teams
may motivate civic, state/provincial, and national government agencies to form
or allow UAS to be used more widely in these missions. Unmanned aircraft can augment manned SAR
assets to provide a wider range of coverage and venture into situations that
may be too hazardous and constricting for manned aircraft. One example is Texas EquuSearch, a privately
operated group that conducts search and rescue operations for missing
persons. UAS have been deployed on
previous operations, which have brought the group in conflict with the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA). Both
Texas EquuSearch and the FAA have cited safety as the primary motivation for
their actions (AP Staff, 2014).
Competitions such as those held by ARCAA may assist in gaining more
support and acceptance of UAS in SAR operations.
References:
Associated
Press (AP) Staff. (2014, July 18). Texas Search Group to Resume Using Drones Despite
FAA Admonition. The Dallas Morning News.
Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20140718-texas-search-group-to-resume-using-drones-despite-faa-admonition.ece
Roberts,
J., Frousheger, D., Williams, B., Campbell, D., & Walker, R. (2015, December 18). How the UAV Outback Challenge Was Finally Won. IEEE Robotics
& Automation Magazine. Retrieved
from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5JgqjkRDqw8RG1Ibjg5RkRxbjA/view
