Shark attacks and coastal drowning cases may soon be a thing of the past if a trial of patrol-and-rescue drones proves successful.
Australia is a large island with a long shoreline, so it’s no surprise to learn that activities like swimming, surfing and scuba diving are popular almost all year-round. The downside to this love of the ocean is an increased risk of close encounters with sharks.
Last year, 33 encounters were recorded between humans and sharks in Australian waters. There were 23 cases where injuries were sustained, and two resulted in fatalities. The heightened awareness around shark attacks has led to political support for Little Ripper, an aerial surveillance drone that can also be deployed during rescue operations.
On a Lifesaving Mission
The concept for the Little Ripper did not come to founder Kevin Weldon while surfing in Australia but, strangely, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the USA more than a decade ago.
Rising floodwaters in New Orleans forced many people to seek safety, but not everyone was visible to rescue helicopters.
Not for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Due to their size and agility, UAVs or drones were able to travel up and down the flooded streets and maneuver where helicopters could not, finding survivors and saving 5,000 lives.
Weldon is no stranger to saving lives. At 15, he joined Queensland’s Pacific SLSC as a surf lifesaving cadet before becoming president. In 1971, convinced of the value of lifesaving training and advocacy, he founded World Life Saving, which later became the International Life Saving Federation after merging with its French counterpart. Weldon was its inaugural president.
When Weldon saw what UAVs did in New Orleans, it sparked ideas. “As the founder of two worldwide water safety organizations, I thought, ‘this is the future’,” he said.
Flying the Drones
Weldon believes many lives can be saved and accidents prevented with Little Ripper, particularly at isolated beaches and in difficult terrain, such as around cliffs and headlands. Shark attacks aren’t the only incidents to look out for in these areas. Close to 300 people drown in Australian waters every year, far more than those attacked by sharks.
Two pilots – one to drive, the other to analyze what the Little Ripper sees – can fly the full authority digital electronics control (FADEC) aircraft from a laptop at a command post.
“Little Rippers can patrol all these isolated areas on a regular basis. They can be remotely manned in emergency services trailers and we can go to remote areas quickly and launch them,” Weldon explained.
The 2-meter (6.6-feet) long drone, which has a flight time of two-and-a-half hours, can carry a rescue package comprising a flotation device, GPS unit, Shark Shield repellent and other technology to assist subsequent rescue efforts.
Little Ripper senior director Noel Purcell is looking to Intel technologies such as the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) to help pilots track and control the fleet.
Keeping Australia’s Beaches Shark-Safe
There are currently 16 Little Rippers in operation under the wings of 16 Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters that patrol beaches in New South Wales. Drone use forms part of the state government’s new 16 million Australian dollar ($12 million) shark strategy, which also includes in-water sonar to detect shark-sized objects and an accompanying app that tracks the predators in real-time. While the helicopters take a wide aerial view, the drones provide ‘eyes on the surface’ and the sonar provides underwater data.
Now it is only a matter of speeding up the deployment process – which is currently 14 minutes and decreasing – and training more pilots for the 40 Little Rippers that will be launched in the coming year.
So the next time you hear of swimmers caught in a big rip or a tale of a shark attempting to rip into a surfer, be comforted that there are now little drone eyes looking to prevent the problem as well.
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