Competitors Look For Ways to Optimize Unmanned Aircraft for Indoor Search and Rescue Scenarios

Firefighters and first responders use drones in their daily operations, requiring specialized UAS capabilities for their unique missions. Courtesy of Kansas State Salina Communications & Marketing

By Nicole Dufour

Save more lives with more intelligent drones: That's the idea behind the recently-launched First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge, hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The competition is the sixth in the agency's quest to optimize indoor drone and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) capabilities during search and rescue situations. Vying for up to $685,000 in rewards, competitors will need to design, build, and fly cost-effective models that improve first responder situational awareness. The competition opened in April and will continue in multiple stages through June 2023.

The competition addresses the ongoing challenge of GPS-guided UAS becoming weakened and debilitated in indoor environments, with lost signals, poor lighting, and other issues. Competitors will address these and other difficulties; a panel of judges and UAS experts will select the winners. 

Since 2017, PSCR has funded Open Innovation prize challenge competitions across several research areas, including Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), and UAS. In 2020, the First Responder UAS Endurance Challenge invited teams to create drone prototypes for first responders. Forty-three teams entered the competition, of which five final competitors spent 14 months designing and building lightweight drones capable of flying continuously with heavy payloads for 90 minutes or more. Virginia-based Advanced Aircraft Company (AAC) took home the biggest prize with its Hybrid Advanced Multi-Rotor (HAMR) Solution, built with a 3.5-hour maximum endurance capability.

"Our Endurance Challenge showed significant increases in UAS flight time to help in search and rescue operations; these prize challenges are having an impact across the U.S. and around the world for public safety,” said NIST public safety communications research division chief Dereck Orr in a press release issued by the department.

Along with host NIST, Capital Consulting Corporation and Kansas State University are partnering to manage the effort.

“We hope this challenge yields cost-effective, meaningful alternatives; this competition may improve public safety around the world," added Kurt Carraway, executive director of Kansas State University Applied Aviation Research Center.

Besides giving public safety specialists and first responders new access to tools that can help save lives in search and rescue scenarios, the competitions often lead to enduring partnerships – and future innovation opportunities – between companies and academics.

For more information about competition eligibility requirements, visit challenge.gov or register at the challenge website.