Jędrzej Stasik, a graduate from our Faculty and winner of the CreatiWITy competition, constructed a drone capable of indicating to rescuers the location of people buried by an avalanche. This innovative project combines a drone with an avalanche detector into one system, which can be useful in very high mountain ranges.
Drones and mountains – these are the two great passions of Jędrzej Stasik, who during one of his winter trips to the Alps, came up with the idea to combine the two.
– Seeing many avalanches in the mountains, I thought about developing a drone that would be able to effectively search through them. Effectively, yet safely for the rescuers. During the search of an avalanche site, a secondary avalanche may occur, potentially burying the rescue team – observes Jędrzej.
He adds that the drone also significantly reduces the search time. And as a result, the chances of survival under an avalanche increase.
Signal from under the snow
The drone built by our graduate has been provided with equipment allowing it to receive signals from avalanche detectors. Such detectors are usually owned by ski tourers who practice alpine skiing. All you have to do is to turn such a device on before setting off to the mountains. If an avalanche occurs and buries a team member, the rest switch their devices to the reception mode and search for the signal transmitted by the buried person's device.
– My drone does the same thing, but it doesn't get tired flying uphill and searches the area much faster, as it covers 5 metres per second. A person would have difficulty moving at this speed for a longer period – explains Jędrzej Stasik.
He built the drone using ready-made mechanical components. He integrated and uploaded an open-source system allowing him to control the flight of the machine.
– Some solutions were not available and I had to implement them myself. It was a decision-making system for controlling a drone mission, a signal detector, and a system for processing signals from transmitters – explains Jędrzej.
Drone to the rescue
During the rescue operation, the drone operator marks the avalanche area and sends a drone on a mission. The drone is tasked with locating the signal transmitted from the detector of a buried person. The system marks the locations where someone might be under the snow.
According to Jędrzej Stasik, this is how the system is ultimately supposed to operate, but it isn't yet full operational.
– So far, I have tested the entire platform. The drone is capable of flying in terrain-following mode, it won't crash into a mountainside, and can withstand wind gusts of up to 10 m/s. I also tested the system that manages this mission. The next step will be to integrate the entire system and carry out a specific test – he adds.
Where there's a will, there's a way
As explained by Jędrzej Stasik, the drones currently used by mountain rescuers are very expensive. They provide, among other things, supplies to people who are stuck on a summit. The manufacturer does not, however, provide modules for reading signals from avalanche detectors.
– In my project, the innovative aspect is the combination of a drone and an avalanche detector into a single system. Half a year ago, when I was writing my engineering thesis, I didn't find any examples of drones being routinely used in avalanches. They could not tell you where to dig. However, I came across several similar projects where someone is trying to create such a drone – says the young scientist.
Jędrzej worked on his solution for a year and a half. He wrote an engineering thesis titled "Drone System for SAR Missions in Mountain Rescue", which won him first prize in the CreatiWITy competition for the most creative thesis.
– I believe that winning this competition will aid in my efforts to establish contacts helpful in implementing this project – he says.
According to the thesis supervisor, Dr. Tomasz Szandała from the Department of Technical Computer Science, Jędrzej's project also stands out because it can be practically applied.
– When a student comes to me with a crazy project, but truly believes in it, I am happy to try to help. Jędrzej has proven that determination and knowledge can bring truly ambitious ideas to life – explains Dr. Szandała.
A perfect glacier
This year, Jędrzej graduated from Technical Computer Science with an engineering degree. He stayed at Wrocław University of Science and Technology for his master's studies. He chose Aviation and Cosmonautics at the Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering.
– They have a lot of drone-related courses there. Ans I lack mechanical knowledge. First and foremost, I need to reduce the weight of my drone. I need to develop my own mechanical solutions. I cannot use a ready-made frame because it is too heavy – explains Jędrzej Stasik.
Recently, Jędrzej saw another of his dreams fulfilled. It was a drone flight over the German glacier Zugspitze (2,964 m above sea level). It is not only the highest peak in Germany but also the country's only glacier. His next dream is to test his drone during a real rescue operation.
– I will strive to ensure that my solution is utilised. I want to refine the entire system. After initial discussions with Polish TOPR mountain rescue, I learned that my solution may not necessarily be useful in the Polish mountains, as avalanches here are not large enough to require a system of this scale. However, there are much larger mountains in the world where my system could be effective – he adds hopefully.
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