Cellular-Based Search and Rescue Solution

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Search and rescue teams rely on quickly locating where critically injured people are to ensure fast and safe recovery. Not knowing where a victim is means rescue teams risk not only slowing a recovery operation but also possibly risking more lives in extreme environments. 

A new drone solution enables rescue teams to know exactly where injured people are on a mountain, in a forest or even in the aftermath of an earthquake as long as someone has an active cell phone.

The Revector Detector Drone (RDD) can locate missing people through their cell phones.

The lightweight search and rescue (SAR) UAS comes equipped with a cell phone base station. RDD can fly over areas that are difficult to reach after a natural disaster or accident to locate survivors who have their cell phones with them.

The system mimics a base station, so cell phones connect to it, helping SAR teams to quickly locate victims before sending rescuers in.

The drone, which can be as light as five kilograms, can monitor an area of 10 kilometers at high speed for 90 minutes. It can identify a victim within a 20-meter area.

Mountain rescue teams, police forces and the military can deploy this system for SAR missions, according to insideunmannedsystems.com.

The company’s International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers enable regulated authorities to identify mobile devices in a specific geographic location. Every mobile device includes a unique IMSI number that identifies every mobile user within the network.

The IMSI Catcher operates on the local Network coverage, or where there is poor or no coverage. Proprietary hardware and cellular protocol stacks are optimized for use in helicopters and drones.