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Leveraging Augmented Reality for Improved Situational Awareness During UAV-Driven Search and Rescue Missions

Rushikesh Nalamothu, Puneet Sontha, Janardhan Karravula, Ankit Agrawal

TL;DR

VizCom-AR, an Augmented Reality system designed to facilitate visual communication between ROs and OSOs and their situational awareness during UAV-driven search-and-rescue missions, offers a fundamental framework for designing Augmented Reality systems for large scale UAV-driven rescue missions.

Abstract

In the high-stakes domain of search-and-rescue missions, the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has become increasingly pivotal. These missions require seamless, real-time communication among diverse roles within response teams, particularly between Remote Operators (ROs) and On-Site Operators (OSOs). Traditionally, ROs and OSOs have relied on radio communication to exchange critical information, such as the geolocation of victims, hazardous areas, and points of interest. However, radio communication lacks information visualization, suffers from noise, and requires mental effort to interpret information, leading to miscommunications and misunderstandings. To address these challenges, this paper presents VizCom-AR, an Augmented Reality system designed to facilitate visual communication between ROs and OSOs and their situational awareness during UAV-driven search-and-rescue missions. Our experiments, focus group sessions with police officers, and field study showed that VizCom-AR enhances spatial awareness of both ROs and OSOs, facilitate geolocation information exchange, and effectively complement existing communication tools in UAV-driven emergency response missions. Overall, VizCom-AR offers a fundamental framework for designing Augmented Reality systems for large scale UAV-driven rescue missions.

Leveraging Augmented Reality for Improved Situational Awareness During UAV-Driven Search and Rescue Missions

TL;DR

VizCom-AR, an Augmented Reality system designed to facilitate visual communication between ROs and OSOs and their situational awareness during UAV-driven search-and-rescue missions, offers a fundamental framework for designing Augmented Reality systems for large scale UAV-driven rescue missions.

Abstract

In the high-stakes domain of search-and-rescue missions, the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has become increasingly pivotal. These missions require seamless, real-time communication among diverse roles within response teams, particularly between Remote Operators (ROs) and On-Site Operators (OSOs). Traditionally, ROs and OSOs have relied on radio communication to exchange critical information, such as the geolocation of victims, hazardous areas, and points of interest. However, radio communication lacks information visualization, suffers from noise, and requires mental effort to interpret information, leading to miscommunications and misunderstandings. To address these challenges, this paper presents VizCom-AR, an Augmented Reality system designed to facilitate visual communication between ROs and OSOs and their situational awareness during UAV-driven search-and-rescue missions. Our experiments, focus group sessions with police officers, and field study showed that VizCom-AR enhances spatial awareness of both ROs and OSOs, facilitate geolocation information exchange, and effectively complement existing communication tools in UAV-driven emergency response missions. Overall, VizCom-AR offers a fundamental framework for designing Augmented Reality systems for large scale UAV-driven rescue missions.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 26 sections, 14 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Augmenting Reality Systems for Robots
  4. AR Systems in Emergency Response
  5. VizCom-AR
  6. RO-AR Design
  7. OSO-AR
  8. Preliminary Discussion with Police Officers
  9. Insights Gained from Focus Group Session
  10. VizCom-AR Evaluation Goals
  11. RQ1 - Experiments and Analysis
  12. Data Collection
  13. Geo-location Computation Analysis Method
  14. Analysis - Geo-location Computation Accuracy
  15. AR Marker Visual Accuracy Analysis Method
  16. ...and 11 more sections

Figures (14)

  • Figure 1: VizCom-AR : Visual Communication Overview
  • Figure 2: Geo-location computation
  • Figure 3: Marker augmentation in aerial video stream
  • Figure 4: The bi-directional data flow between ROs and OSOs
  • Figure 5: RO-AR and OSO-AR Interfaces: (a) System displaying notifications - OSO live location, annotated POIs, OSO's next target, and the distance of OSO from their next target; (b) OSO utilizing AR glasses during ground operations; (c) OSO communicating the next search goal to RO on the ground.
  • ...and 9 more figures