MUMBAI, India, May 29 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202641062216 A) filed by Bvrit Hyderabad College Of Engineering For Women; and Dr. V. Hindumathi, Hyderabad, Telangana, on May 16, for 'an autonomous aerial vehicle for disaster surveillance and rescue operations.'
Inventor(s) include Dr. V. Hindumathi; Ms. S. Pavani; Ms. P. Sneha Priyadarshini; and Ms. N. Dharani.
The application for the patent was published on May 29, under issue no. 22/2026.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, and building collapses often create hazardous environments that make search and rescue operations difficult, time- consuming, and dangerous for rescue personnel. Rapid identification of survivors is critical during such emergencies, and traditional manual search methods may not always provide efficient results in inaccessible or disaster-affected regions. This project aims to develop an AI-powered Search and Rescue Drone System capable of autonomously detecting and locating people in real-time using computer vision and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology. The proposed system is built on a quadcopter UAV platform integrated with a Raspberry Pi, Pixhawk flight controller, GPS module, telemetry communication system, and a high-definition camera module. The onboard processing unit executes lightweight deep learning models such as MobileNet SSD using TensorFlow Lite and OpenCV for efficient real-time human detection. The camera continuously captures live video footage, and the AI model processes each frame to identify human presence with high accuracy. Detected individuals are highlighted using bounding boxes, and their locations can be monitored using GPS mapping and telemetry data. A Flask-based web application is developed to provide live video streaming, real-time person count updates, video recording functionality, and download support for recorded footage. The integration of GPS and Mission Planner software enables accurate drone navigation, autonomous monitoring, and efficient coordination of rescue operations in remote or hazardous locations. The system is designed with careful consideration of payload capacity, flight stability, onboard processing efficiency, and power management to ensure reliable UAV operation during emergency missions. By combining drone technology, Artificial Intelligence, computer vision, and real-time communication, the proposed project offers a low-cost, portable, and intelligent solution for improving the speed, safety, and effectiveness of modern search and rescue operations."
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