Deep reinforcement learning for time-critical wilderness search and rescue using drones.

ABSTRACT: Traditional search and rescue methods in wilderness areas can be time-consuming and have limited coverage. Drones offer a faster and more flexible solution, but optimizing their search paths is crucial for effective operations. This paper proposes a novel algorithm using deep reinforcement learning to create efficient search paths for drones in wilderness environments. Our approach leverages a priori data about the search area and the missing person in the form of a probability distribution map. This allows the policy to learn optimal flight paths that maximize the probability of finding the missing person quickly. Experimental results show that our method achieves a significant improvement in search times compared to traditional coverage planning and search planning algorithms by o

SUBMITTER: Ewers JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11831046 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature