DRONE pilots from around the world descended on Chilmark to determine how unmanned aerial vehicles could help survivors of natural disasters.

The University of Portsmouth and the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) were given the chance to use a training area near Salisbury to safely survey, map, and search both urban and rural environments day and night through drone technology.

The Ops room was set up to collate data from the unmanned aerial system (UAS).

Humanitarian response charity Serve On was the host of this international research, supplying search and rescue volunteers.

Patrick McKay, UAS data operations manager for the UNWFP said: “Drones are a complete game-changer. In an emergency we would be lucky if we had a helicopter or two at our disposal and, even if we did, they could be better used for delivering food and for rescuing people.”

The aim of the five-day training camp was to assess the effectiveness of various drones and test them over varying terrains, using different search patterns and at different altitudes.

Professor Richard Teeuw from the University of Portsmouth said: “Drones are a relatively new technology, so we don’t really know what type of drones work best over large areas.”

Mr McKay added: “Our goal in this activity is to replace the use of helicopters in the search phase of a search and rescue operation and use drones to identify the locations of everyone who needs a rescue and then we can send the helicopters and boats directly to those people to save lives.”

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