Drones as an Integral Part of Remote Sensing Technologies to Help Missing People

摘要

Due to the versatility of the drone, it can be applied in various areas and for different usesand as a practical support for human activities. In particular, this paper focuses on the situation inItaly and how the authorities use drones for the search and rescue of missing persons, especiallynow that a 10-year plague that has afflicted Italy with a large number of such incidents annually.Knowledge of the current legislation, the implementation of the drone with other instruments,specific pilot training, and experiential contributions are all essential elements that can provideexceptional assistance in search and rescue operations. However, to guarantee maximumeffectiveness of the rescue device, they should seriously consider including teams with provenexpertise in operating drones and count on their valuable contribution. Besides drones’ capacity tosearch large areas, thereby reducing the use of human resources and possibly limiting interventiontimes, to operate in difficult terrain and/or dangerous conditions for rescue teams, remote sensingtools (such as GPR or ground penetrating radar) as well as other disciplines (such as forensicarcheology and, more generally, forensic geosciences) can be implemented to carry out search andrescue missions in case of missing persons.