Shipwrecked Victims Localization and Tracking using UAVs

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) can be considered as an efficient wireless communication alternative in regions where the terrestrial infrastructure is absent. In this paper we propose to use drones for public safety, especially, as a rescue solution for shipwrecked. The detection and the localization of the victims are carried out by a group of drones which receive SOS signals transmitted by their safety jackets. The proposed localization technique provides a good estimate of the target positions based only on the RSSI measurements of the received signals. In fact, using mobile UAVs allows to create a large number of virtual anchors so we can better localize victims. Simulations results show very low localization errors and good tracking capabilities of our algorithm for various scenarios. A performance enhancement is also noted when using multiple drones.