A Helicopter company based in Durango tests a new tool with which the search and rescue teams in helicopters can recognize missing and needy people in colorados backcountry within minutes and can communicate with them, even if they are in one area without a cell phone service.
The technology that resembles a miniature mobile phone tower is connected to the outside of a helicopter and enables the seekers, the locations of all mobile phones within a radius of 3 miles with a card on a tablet, Dr. Tim Durkin, a search and rescue program coordinator for Colorado Highland helicopters.
“When we recognize the phone, a stain basically appears on the map and when we fly around in this area, this stain becomes smaller and smaller until we can see exactly where they are,” said Durkin.
“This process of recognizing and the focus on a certain location takes about a minute – not very long at all.”
Depending on the situation, search and rescue teams can then send in with the location of the person Bodencrews or land the helicopter if there is a clearing nearby and the conditions allow a safe landing, said Durkin.
During a test mission in the La Plata Canyon northwest of Durango, search teams found the two people looking for within two minutes and 14 seconds, said Durkin.
The technology called Lifeseker was developed by the Spanish company Centum Research & Technology and is currently approved by the Federal Communications Commission before it can be sold to the state or to the counties, in the hope of using them for their SAR efforts, he said.
The La Plata Canyon is limited by several 12,000 and 13,000-foot peaks on both sides with a dense forest on the ground. There were several top-class search and rescue missions to search for missing hikers and ultraunners in the remote, mountainous area.
The robust terrain, like in many areas Colorado, makes it extremely difficult for seekers to recognize people from the air or the ground. Some missions in the past took weeks before looking for searching soil missions without finding the person they were looking for.
“Even two adult adults who are under the tree cover, even if we can look at the screen and say:” We know exactly where they are, “and we creep up 100 feet from the trees in a helicopter, they cannot see them because the tree cover is so tight,” said Durkin, an emergency doctor.
“It is really difficult, if not almost impossible to find a person without additional technology to see them.”
It takes about three minutes to install a life gel unit in a helicopter for a search and rescue mission, said Dr. Tim Durkin, a coordinator for search and rescue programs for Colorado Highland helicopters. (Photo with the kind permission of Tim Durkin)
The radio -based technology needs a clear view of the area without disturbing itself to record the signal of the mobile phone. If the conditions and the terrain are favorable, it can recognize a mobile phone at a distance of almost 20 miles.
It takes about three minutes to fasten the life -ker unit in a helicopter for a search and rescue mission, said Durkin.
SAR can also use the tool to send text messages to the missing person, for example and advise you to stay in an area when you are injured or switch to a clearing for a helicopter to pick them up.
The tool also has a broadcast function with which SAR can send a message to a group of people in a specific area, similar to an amber alarm for a missing child to warn them of a forest fire or a flood, said Durkin.
The new technology could be another life-saving instrument for the approximately 2,500 search and rescue workers across the state, who are responding to the calls of necessary people in the hinterland, said Jeff Sparhawk, the executive director of the Colorado Search and Rescue Association, which represents the state's teams under the district sheriff.
For example, if you find a person with dementia or a missing child without a cell phone, this can require a different approach, for example, when a missing hiker has recently been seen on the Windy summit of a 14,000-foot summit.
Savings in the air use a variety of technology to look for humans, such as: B. high -resolution video, which is filtered by software, can identify colors that are not seen in nature in nature, like Royal Blue. SAR also has access to the state aircraft in which infrared sensors are used to recognize temperature differences on the ground.
Nevertheless, the success rate of the search and rescue teams who are looking for visually from search for helicopter is not very high, said Sparhawk.
“It is very, very difficult in our valleys, in our mountains. It is also difficult if people wear steamed colors – find someone who wears gray under 10 billion gray stones,” he said.
The Lifeseker technology could make a big difference for seekers who are looking for someone in an area outside the cell phone area, but only if the person's phone has electricity, said Sparhawk.
“It is a balancing act. From our point of view, cell phone batteries are a problem for us – if someone takes a hike, we have taught people to switch off their phone, put it on the aircraft mode or to keep the battery as you can. This usually means that you separate the network from the network,” said Sparhawk.
“So if you keep your mobile phone battery and do not listen to a helicopter and do not turn it on again, it will not make a difference for you. But if you are lost, you have to turn on your cell phone and try to get into the reporting,” he said.
A task force that better supports the improvement of field communication for the better support of search and rescue operations in the entire state to keep the emergency services in the hinterland without handing over the costs to those who call for help.
The three TS
Travel planning: Leave someone at home a detailed plan, including the starting point in which you park your intended route, your intended goal, who is with you and at what time you are expected to be back. If you have not returned home within a reasonable time in your plan, the person should call 911 to report them overdue.
Training: Make sure you have the skills, skills, experience and physical condition for the adventure you are planning.
Take the bare essentials: Wear the 10 essentials and all sports -specific devices that you may need.
In the 111-page report published in 2022, it was recommended to examine Sheriffs and Backcountry search and rescue teams with funds for the purchase and improvement of communication technologies as well as the value of helicopters dedicated to rescue needs.
Many of the search and rescue teams across the state have been overwhelmed with a dramatic increase in calls in recent years.
“How successful our tourism industry was is a blessing and a curse for us,” said Sparhawk. “We support the tourism industry to the extent that we can harm it at all, but I think that the increase in the population and the increase in tourism makes us very, very busy.”
Most calls come in summer, while winter missions usually need more energy, which means that the seekers have to enter into precarious avalanche -susceptible terrain, he said.
Colorado Search and Rescue recommends that people in the hinterland to reproduce as safe as possible by following the three TS: travel planning, training and taking the essential.
“Most people assume an adventure and of course do not expect help, so they will enjoy their day. They should do that,” said Sparhawk. “This is the situation that not everyone thinks of.”
Type of history: news
Based on facts that were either observed and verified by the reporter or were reported and verified from expert sources.
Comments are closed.