The deployment of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in wilderness search and locate operations has gained attention in the past few years. To help expand the effective search radius and provide more flexible UAV search capabilities, we propose a Reliable Uninterrupted Communications Kit for UAV Search (RUCKUS), a backpackable Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight UAV system utilizing an intermediate "relay UAV" to provide an uninterrupted communications link between the ground station and the search UAV. The proposed system is designed to be self-contained, modular, and affordable and can provide continuous sensor data and control flow between the search UAV and ground station, enabling the users to receive real-time video feedback from the search UAV and dynamically update the UAV’s search strategy. In this paper, we describe the proposed system architecture and characterization of the signal strength via a number of experimental flight tests. The end goal is to develop a flexible, cost-effective, and portable BVLOS solution to aid first responders and alike in safety-critical operations where extending the operational range can significantly improve mission success.
@inproceedings{MadewellPollackEtAl2024,author={Madewell, E. and Pollack, E. and Kuni, H. and Johri, S. and Broyles, D. and Vagners, J. and Leung, K.},booktitle={{AIAA Scitech Forum}},title={Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle for Search and Locate Operations},year={2024},category={afsl},img={MadewellPollackEtAl2024.png},owner={karenl7}}
