STARKVILLE — Every second counts in the wake of a disaster, and information about which areas are unsafe to enter becomes an invaluable asset for first responders.

Unmanned aircraft systems, equipped with the ability to record and transmit real-time video feeds and data, provide rescue workers a much-needed advantage when navigating the chaos.

“When you see something like a hurricane that affects an entire state or half of a state, no matter how many people are responding, you’re not going to have an update that you know everything,” said Bryan Farrell, interim director of the Raspet Flight Research Lab at Mississippi State University. “That’s where something like a large UA, or potentially multiple large UAs, … can respond quickly to requests.”

After Hurricane Helene decimated areas across the Southeast in September, Raspet Flight Research Lab and the Northern Gulf Institute, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cooperative institute composed of six academic institutions including Mississippi State, deployed its largest unmanned aircraft to impacted areas in Georgia along with pilots and scientists.

Outfitted with cameras and sensors, the aircraft provide visuals and data on flooding and damage that is then forwarded to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid relief efforts.

The effort began as a research project in 2017 when Raspet, working with NGI, began flying missions to image flooding during extreme events, so that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could make better inundation maps.

“We never envisioned the projects to deal with emergency response, but during the flooding, we found that there was an option to put (extra) cameras on the drones, so that we could get real-time camera feeds, which would help emergency managers,” Jamie Dyer, NGI associate director and geosciences professor, said.

Fulfilling a request for information in the moment it’s most needed makes UAS valuable tools for FEMA while providing hurricane relief, he said.

“Being able to task where the camera is looking became hugely important during the relief efforts because someone from FEMA could say, ‘Hey point that camera at this building and fly a loop around it.’ Then they immediately have situational awareness,” Dyer said.

Farrell said the team deployed Sept. 29 and returned from Georgia five days later, but some pilots voluntarily remained in the area with manned aircraft to drop supplies, though it was not in support of FEMA directly. Other operators with small UAS played a critical role across all of the other affected states, he said.

Due to limited funding and pilots being assigned to other operations, the team did not provide support in areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Farrell said.

A unique capability

Because the unmanned aircraft can collect and transmit large amounts of data while also staying in the air for hours at a time, they’re uniquely capable to survey damage after a disaster and aid first responders’ decisions.

Raspet’s largest UAS, the Teros, has a 44-foot wingspan and can fly for more than 20 hours while feeding real-time data and video to emergency operations commands. It’s one of only three models made, two of which are at Raspet.

The high resolution images make it easier for rescue workers to assess damages by giving them a birds-eye view of impacted areas.

“Even if it’s just a video camera trying to tell you where to go or what to look at or how to get into a collapsed structure … it gives the first responder something that, from a capability perspective, has proven itself now to be very useful,” Farrell said.

Typically, satellites provide imagery that can be used to map disaster zones during relief efforts. But because UAs are flown remotely, they can get closer to the damage while not being impeded by cloud covers like satellites are, Farrell said.

“You can see broadly a lot of damage (with a satellite), but you’re not going to be able to get down to the really detailed damage that you get with UAs,” he said.

As for the tasks UAs can accomplish during a disaster, the possibilities are extensive. It’s basically an asset in the air that can be retasked in real time, Dyer said.

“If a road washes out or if there’s flooding that’s approaching a built up area, we can figure out how high that water is (and) what buildings are impacted,” he said. “Say there’s a shelter (with) people in there and water could start to impact it, you can fly the drone around to see possible locations to evacuate, areas to avoid and even down to finding people on roofs.”

The primary benefit, Farrell said, is how quickly the UAs allow first responders to access information they need to make quick decisions.

“With better information and faster information, decisions to act can be made quicker,” he said. “There is a lot of chaos around disasters. … So anytime you can get better information, even if it’s that this road is washed out (and) you’re not going to be able to get through it, that can save somebody … hours.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.