A novel moving-base RTK-GPS-Based wearable apparatus for precise localization of humans in peril

摘要

The paper in hand addresses the issue of precise positioning of a human in peril, who is supervised by means of carrying a novel wearable apparatus in the context of a crisis event. A completely Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AUAV) comprises the main component of an Autonomous Aerial Rescue System (AARS), namely the ROLFER (Robotic Lifeguard For Emergency Rescue), which has been specifically designed for instantaneous response and provision of assistance in Search and Rescue (SAR) scenarios. As short response times constitute a sine qua non criterion in SAR operations, all the accuracy issues of such systems have to be seriously accounted so as for a rescue mission or activity to be considered successful. After examining and evaluating the performance of several Global Positioning System (GPS) methods and techniques, the moving-base Real-Time Kinematics (RTK)-GPS technology was chosen due to its superior accuracy. Hardware and software configuration of the novel wearable apparatus prototype, as well as the architecture of the overall rescue system are described in detail in this paper. Experimental results from real flight tests of the proposed AARS and the effectiveness of the implemented moving-base RTK-GPS-based wearable apparatus are also presented here.