Bluetooth Low Energy for Close Detection in Search and Rescue Missions With Robotic Platforms: An Experimental Evaluation

Abstract

In the field of rescue robotics, data collection about the environment and efficient communications are fundamental for the success of search and rescue missions. Digitalization provides new ways of detecting and localizing potential victims via the wireless devices carried by the users. Nowadays, the number of personal Bluetooth low energy wearables in use (smartbands, smartwatches, earbuds...) increases constantly, being a yet-to-be-exploited personal radio frequency beacon in the case of an emergency, where the user may not be localized and unconscious. In this paper, the results of experimental tests of a Bluetooth low energy based detection system ported by terrestrial and aerial robots are provided, in order to test the feasibility of such system for the localization of the victims in unknown complex disaster areas. The results show that the tested devices can be reliably detected up to 15 meters away when using transmission power values typical of a smartphone, while being able to detect even lightly burdened devices. These results support the idea of developing an algorithm for the delimitation of areas of interest for the search and rescue groups, influencing the routes followed by the robot with the objective of exploring the detected devices area in the search of victims.

Internet of Things (IoT): Wireless Communications for Unmanned Aircraft System

“…The most significant data rate that BLE can accomplish is 1Mbps, which may not always be sufficient for devices like wireless headphones that demand continuous data streaming (Avilés-Viñas et al, 2022;Barsocchi, Girolami, & La Rosa, 2021;Belwafi, Alkadi, Alameri, Al Hamadi, & Shoufan, 2022;Cantizani-Estepa et al, 2022). On the other hand, another internet of thing application requires periodic small data transmissions.…”

Enabling Remote Responder Bio-Signal Monitoring in a Cooperative Human–Robot Architecture for Search and Rescue

“…Biosensors are integrated into this architecture because of previous and successful applications for robot and human communication and control in disaster scenarios [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

“…In previous works, we presented a mission-oriented Internet of Cooperative Agents architecture for search and rescue (SAR) missions (SAR-IoCA) [ 15 ] that integrates robotic and human agents in the field with the mission control center. SAR-IoCA allows remote control and communication [ 16 ], integrating hybrid sensor networks [ 17 ], victim close detection [ 18 ] and requests from rescuers [ 19 ]. In this work, our goal is to enable remote first responder bio-signal monitoring during SAR interventions.…”