UAV deployment in maritime search and rescue: evaluating the influence of dispatch location and weather conditions on response times

Abstract

We evaluate the potential of equipping commercial ships with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can be utilized as maritime search and rescue (SAR) resources and compare this to a system with UAVs dispatched from land-based stations. By leveraging data for Sweden on historical SAR incidents, as well as historical ship positions, a simulation-based geographic analysis is performed to estimate UAV response times from ships and land-based stations. These times are then compared with the historical response times for the SAR vessel that reached the incident first. Weather factors like wind, temperature, and precipitation, as well as different UAV characteristics are considered in the estimations. The results indicate that the average response time to SAR incidents can be reduced between 7 and 16 min, depending on UAV characteristics and SAR system design. Having fixed-wing UAVs dispatched from land-based stations is likely the best option from a response time reduction perspective, but it may induce higher socioeconomic costs than having multi-rotor UAVs on commercial ships. However, further studies are needed to estimate the cost-benefit ratio.