2.4 - Research Assignment: Unmanned Systems Maritime Search and Rescue (PLG1)
Unmanned maritime systems offer flexibility and greater capability for search and rescue operations. While there are several maritime surface systems that are developed for this task, such as the ROAZ II, or the U Ranger, one exciting new airborne system is employing new technology for wide area ocean scanning. The Scan eagle has been used by the Navy for over a decade in combat zones for Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes. Sentient, an Australian company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer sensing, has developed a new type of sensor they call ViDAR which they believe will greatly enhance the maritime search and rescue front as well as increase the surveillance capabilities of the aircraft. ViDAR stands for Visual Detection and ranging, similar to RADAR, radio detection and ranging, ViDAR uses the visual bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to send out pulses of EM energy and map the returns. Sentient claims it to be the world’s first Optical radar. This provides a significantly increased coverage area enabling the scan eagle to search 80 times more area then with a standard EOIR camera. The data the ViDAR detects is fused and cross queued real time with the visual camera. This allows the ViDAR to detect the object in the ocean, and then slew the camera automatically for a higher resolution image of the object. It is capable of identifying ships, rafts, fast and slow movers, and even a person or periscope in the water. 
The data is downlinked real-time to the aircraft operator, who would likely be on a ship. In order to save bandwidth, the ViDAR’s onboard processing system only transmits detected objects. This data could then be fused with surface scanning ships/unmanned maritime vessels, to provide a multi-platform common operating picture (COP) for increased situational awareness.
The Scan eagle equipped with ViDAR was tested extensively in 2016 and produced excellent results, It was able to successfully and reliably detect objects in a slew of varying conditions to include, clear sunny conditions, to windy, hazy and foggy conditions. In addition to providing an excellent capability, the scan eagle offers exceptional economy. During the 2016 exercise Unmanned Warrior, the scan eagle with ViDAR flew for 55 hours and scanned an area of 41,500 km², which is more than twice the size of the country of Whales. What’s most impressive is it did all of this while consuming only 8 gallons of fuel. It can be integrated with any other systems and direct other manned or unmanned platforms to anything it detects. The detections are sent real time to the ground station with a photo and a coordinate location. The scan eagle and ViDAR sensor are able to search over 13,360NM2 of ocean coverage in 12hrs at 60kts.

The Scan eagle with ViDAR offers a significant advantage over most surface scanning unmanned maritime vehicles and has proven its capability. The size of the payload makes it versatile and able to be equipped to other manned and unmanned platforms, and its auto detection and processing make it perfect for integrating into teams of systems working together.





References
Antunes, J., & Murray, L. (2016, December 14). ScanEagle Drone and ViDAR for Maritime Search and Rescue. Retrieved from https://www.expouav.com/news/latest/scaneagle-drone-vidar-maritime-search-rescue/
ScanEagle – Mini-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2018, from https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/scaneagle-uav/
ViDAR. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2018, from http://www.sentientvision.com/products/vidar/

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