Drone Component for Radio Frequency Detection

Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 20(3), 230-238, 2022 DRONE COMPONENT FOR RADIO FREQUENCY DETECTION Péter Miksa Hell and Péter János Varga* Óbuda University, Doctoral School on Safety and Security Sciences Budapest, Hungary DOI: 10.7906/indecs.20.3.2 Regular article Received: 4 April 2021. Accepted: 31 December 2021. ABSTRACT Recovering people who have lost their way during a hike or disappeared during a disaster is a significant task for disaster management agencies. Nowadays, there are numerous technological devices at our disposal in such cases. Night-vision devices, thermal imagers, and drones are among such technologies. Time is a critical factor in a disaster situation, so by deploying drones, a greater area can be inspected in a given time. These types of general-purpose aircraft are primarily equipped with visual reconnaissance components, such as high-resolution or infrared cameras. The disadvantage of these devices is that they only work effectively in open terrains with adequate visibility conditions. If the missing person is in a dense forest or in a covered space, the chances of recovery decrease significantly. Our development is a radio-frequency detector drone component, which can find the mobile device of the person in trouble, and therefore eliminates the prerequisite for adequate visual conditions. This enables greater efficiency in the case of recovery efforts. KEY WORDS drone, communication, disaster, radio, detection, component CLASSIFICATION JEL: L63, L92 *Corresponding author, : ; -; *Óbuda University, Tavaszmező u. 15-17., H – 1084 Budapest, Hungary Drone component for radio frequency detection INTRODUCTION Disaster management agencies use drones for carrying out special tasks on a daily basis. Their usefulness is undeniable. These aircraft have been one of the most important tools for assisting disaster management in recent years [1]. By using drones, not only can we shorten the time it takes to complete tasks, but we can also look at events from a perspective that we cannot obtain from ground level at all. With the help of well-known drone components – such as a camera or a thermal camera – we can transfer images/videos to the drone pilot. This information helps and speeds up decision-making on relief tasks. There may be cases in which the examined area is covered. This means the camera is no longer able to detect objects and people trapped under the covered area. During disasters and accidents, the primary goal is to save human life. Therefore, time is the primary factor. Our goal was to develop a drone component that, in addition to visual information, also supports rescue efforts with radiofrequency data. DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF USING A RADIO FREQUENCY DRONE COMPONENT Drones currently used in disaster management perform the following tasks: • search and rescue tasks, • firefighting tasks, • law enforcement, prevention, and policing, • prevention of natural and industrial disasters. During search and rescue missions, disaster management agencies have to save lives in different terrain conditions. Drones with visual observation components can identify the human shape from a distance of up to tens of meters. With the help of a thermal camera, it can detect an organism with a different temperature than its surroundings even if it’s under a thinner cover. It transmits these videos in real-time to the search and rescue management team [2]. In all cases, the primary goal of firefighting tasks is to save and secure human life. The task of drones may be to locate a person/people trapped in a building or even in an enclosed area. But localizing the focal point of larger natural fires can also be done faster with these aircraft. Drones flying high see the target area from a different perspective, which is a huge help to firefighters. This added information allows them to do a faster and more accurate job, while their security is less at risk. In these cases, a regular camera image combined with a thermal image plays a prominent role [3]. In law enforcement, prevention, and policing, the tasks are multi-layered. The drones are suitable for mapping crime scenes, so the action of the law enforcement agencies can be planned more precisely. This can improve the outcome of an action and minimise the endangerment of civilian life. In addition to the traditional imaging component, infrared cameras also play an important role in crime prevention and policing. Nowadays, law enforcement agencies primarily use drones to control border violations and curfews. To prevent natural and industrial disasters, and to assist when they occur, drones are capable of performing tasks across multiple platforms. They can transmit a large amount of information to defence agencies and engineering teams that is invisible from the ground or difficult to access. This includes traditional imaging, but shots combined with a thermal imager provide even more information. For example, they can be used in case of a dam rupture to localise water breakthrough sites. In the event of an industrial disaster, a component capable of detecting hazardous gases integrated on the drone can predict hazardous locations for task performers. 231 P.M. Hell and P.J. Varga INTEGRATION OF A RADIO FREQUENCY DRONE COMPONENT FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT TASKS Our current research focuses on how the information provided by existing imaging components can be combined with a drone-mounted radiofrequency reconnaissance component. We have found that the radio frequency scanner component we have developed can provide additional information to the ground team of disaster management organizations, primarily during search and rescue tasks and natural disasters [4]. The prepared drone component and the supporting software were named the SOS-SSID system. STRUCTURE OF THE SOS-SSID SYSTEM The new system has three components. During development, the drone-mounted radio frequency detection component was designed for an environment that includes the following elements: • terrestrial transmitter station (mobile device + sos application), • drone-mounted radiofrequency detection component + drone (hardware and software environment), • ground server system (drone navigation + sos application locator software environment). The structure of our system is shown in Figure 1 [5, 6]. Figure 1. The SOS discovery system. TERRESTRIAL TRANSMITTER STATION The ground transmitter station will be established by a software environment (SOS-SSID application) created for mobile devices. With this software, the person in trouble will be able to turn their device into a wireless network transmitter station, or – in other words – a hotspot. The mobile phone converted using the software can transmit information for assistance by radiofrequency for up to ten hours when charged. The windows of the program perform the following functions, which are shown in Figure 2 [7]. A) Main Screen – A large SOS (...truncated)