Optimising Sea Rescue Missions by UAVs

This paper investigates the First Boat Rescue (FBR) problem whose objective is to rescue a set of boats at sea in the shortest time possible. This problem is motivated by sea emergencies where boats require urgent medical assistance. Since lifeboat missions are costly and time-consuming, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is highly recommended. UAVs can efficiently assist all boats by carrying necessary medical tools. However, their limited battery capacity necessitates frequent visits to gas stations, referred to as buoys, to recharge their battery. In this study, we evaluate the performance of existing algorithms for the FBR problem by considering various distributions of buoys. Using the several algorithms proposed for FBR, we demonstrate that changing the position of buoys can improve the algorithms’ efficiency and overall performance. The obtained results highlight the importance of buoy positioning in improving rescue operations, optimising costs, and ensuring the boat rescue missions in the shortest time possible.