This DIY Drone Software Locates Individuals When Rescue Teams Are Unable to
British Mountain Rescue teams have created an automated drone system capable of scanning an area much faster and more effectively than human vision.
WHEN CHARLIE KELLY initially texted to say he wouldn’t return home that evening, his partner was displeased. On September 6, 2023, which was a Wednesday, a 56-year-old enthusiastic hillwalker departed from the home he shared with Emer Kennedy in Tillicoultry, close to the Scottish city of Stirling, before she headed to her job. His intention was to ascend Creise, an 1,100-meter-high summit that surveys Glen Etive, the secluded Highland valley renowned from the James Bond movie Skyfall.
The weather was surprisingly mild for this time of year, and Kelly believed he might even manage to “bag” a second Munro, which refers to the Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet. During his time away from his job as a forensic psychologist with the Scottish Prisons Service, he had been systematically checking off the peaks. “Kennedy recalls that he possessed a book in which he would note them.” “However, we were set to go on vacation in two and a half weeks, making this the final Munro he would tackle before winter arrived.”
Kennedy wasn’t especially enthusiastic about hiking herself. When the two had initially met four and a half years ago, they connected through a mutual passion for Celtic Football Club and their “very unusual” sense of humor. She had fallen for Kelly’s intellect—his vast understanding of everything related to football, Robert the Bruce, and Doctor Who. She mentions that he appreciated her laughter at “his awful jokes.” But he also valued that she supported him in interests they didn’t have in common. “One of the final things he told me the night before was, ‘You allowed me to be myself,’” she states.
When Kelly informed her that he wouldn’t be able to descend the hill before dark, Kennedy felt concerned, but she believed he was capable of handling it. “Charlie was an exceptionally talented individual,” she said. “At his job, he was a skilled negotiator, especially during hostage situations or when prisoners climbed onto the roof.” He typically avoided taking risks. Kelly comforted her by saying there was no reason to seek assistance. He packed additional food, brought ample water, and had sufficient warm clothing. He would simply wait for daybreak and stroll down.
During her Thursday shift, Kennedy looked at her phone each time she had a break. Kelly had checked in prior to dawn and sent more cheerful messages whenever he had service. At approximately 8 pm, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, he texted to mention his battery was nearly dead, but she shouldn’t be concerned: He could see the lights of the Glencoe Ski Center, where his car was parked. He mentioned there was still a lot of daylight remaining to get there. “It will require approximately thirty minutes for me.” That was the final time anyone heard from Charlie Kelly while he was alive.
In the days after Kelly went missing, Glencoe Mountain Rescue initiated what they would later characterize as a “Herculean” search operation, employing sniffer dogs, quad bikes, numerous helicopters, and drones fitted with both infrared and standard camera technology. The search included experts from the Coastguard, Police Scotland, and the Royal Air Force, along with numerous highly skilled volunteers from 10 various Mountain Rescue (MR) teams. Frequently, there were up to 50 individuals on the hill simultaneously. On Saturday, September 9, his backpack was discovered. However, after that, there was nothing.
The breakthrough arrived over six weeks later. Dan Roach and David Binks, two members of the MR team from the Lake District in northern England, had been tracking the updates about the ongoing search online. During their free hours, they had been creating a new software for piloting and image analysis, intended to assist drones in locating missing individuals more efficiently. Following two years of effort, which Binks refers to as “some dreadful maths,” they had what they thought was a functional prototype.
“I was aware that this search was happening,” Binks remarks, “and I continuously thought this would be a great spot to attempt and evaluate the system.” Then Dan called me while I was heading home from vacation. He had the identical thought. The duo reached out to Glencoe MR and inquired if they could assist. “Binks states, ‘I don’t believe they anticipated anything would result from it.'” However, by that time, they had used all other resources available to them. “They were pleased to let us attempt.”
On October 24, Binks, Roach, and Dan Parsons, a friend and colleague of Roach’s from the MR team who assisted with initial testing, went to Glencoe. They connected with their local MR counterparts, deployed two drones, and discovered Charlie Kelly’s body within the initial hour.
In the UK, mountain rescue is commonly known as the nation’s fourth emergency service. However, in contrast to the police, fire department, or emergency medical services, it is composed entirely of volunteers. The upland regions of the country are filled with a mosaic of groups consisting of locals from diverse backgrounds. Every team functions as an independently registered charity, accountable for its own fundraising, training, and gear.
According to Mike Park, the chosen CEO of MR England & Wales, a governing organization that enhances collaboration among teams, this decentralized framework offers several benefits. “However, the downside is that it can foster many individualistic, ‘we know better’ kinds of mindsets,” he states. Park is the previous head of Cockermouth MR in the Lake District—Roach and Parsons’ group—and has volunteered for nearly 42 years. He notes that MR members—mostly men—occasionally become overly tribal regarding their specialties, causing new ideas to circulate more slowly than he wishes. “There’s this ancient tradition that suggests you must put in 20 years before anyone will listen to you,” he states.
When consumer camera drones were first introduced to the market in the early 2010s, their practicality in search and rescue operations appeared to be clear. They would enable teams to survey large regions at a small portion of the expense of a helicopter. However, Roach, an early supporter who had utilized drones for photography tasks, remained unconvinced. An enthusiastic climber, sporting long curly hair and a Pedro Pascal mustache, he became a member of Cockermouth MR ten years ago and remains one of the team’s younger members at 34. “Everyone believed, ‘This will be fantastic because I can visualize things.’” However, they soon understood that one must be in close proximity to the object they wish to observe, and it is essential to view it on a very compact controller.
If you’re searching for a needle in a haystack, gaining an aerial perspective of the haystack may not be beneficial. Roach suggested that they ought to leverage drones’ capability to follow preplanned routes while aiming to automate the search procedure as extensively as feasible. Among MR’s veteran members, though, he contended with a challenging struggle to have his thoughts acknowledged. “I recall an MR conference at Leeds University where Dan appeared with his long hair and skateboard,” Mike Park notes, “and someone questioned whether he had entered the wrong venue—they assumed he was a student returning a week early.”
Irritated by others’ unwillingness to pay attention, Roach continued anyway, aided by his friend and fellow volunteer Dan Parsons. In addition to being of a comparable age, Parsons, 33, had experience in forestry and had previously utilized drones for surveying tasks. The duo began evaluating ready-made piloting and photography software. They additionally discovered a program that could identify pixels of specific colors, such as the red of a hiker’s coat. “In the end, we ended up with this highly technical, rather glitchy system,” recalls Roach. “It functioned, though it wasn’t attractive.” You needed to use three distinct pieces of software to conduct your search. The idea truly started to come together when Roach encountered David Binks, a former software developer who volunteers with Duddon & Furness MR, serving an area approximately 30 miles south of Cockermouth. Roach discussed his efforts to automate drone searches during a meeting of Lake District pilots and recalls Binks approaching him afterward. He mentioned, ‘I hadn’t considered it that way. “Let’s talk.’”
They create an uncommon combination. Roach, known as “the ideas guy,” radiates a Tigger-like enthusiasm, while Binks possesses a much more subdued presence, marked by an analytical engineer’s mind. At 57, Binks is over 20 years older, but importantly, he possessed experience not only in software writing but also in software that MR had widely embraced. Beginning in 2007, he developed a program named MR Maps, enabling teams to monitor their members in nearly real-time, relying on frequent signals from their radios. In a time prior to the widespread use of GPS-enabled smartphones or portable devices, it became a revolutionary development. Following initial discussions in late 2021 and early 2022, Binks concluded that enhancing Roach’s concept as an add-on to MR Maps would be the most effective approach.
“I understood how the mathematics would function, thanks to my experience with simulation software for offshore oil rigs and wind energy projects,” Binks states. “Therefore, I realized it could be done.” However, I spent many nights where I would begin at 9 in the morning, and suddenly it was 3 in the morning, having worked all day. Possibly revealing its amateur background and the fact that it was developed with C++, the finished software exhibits what Roach refers to as “a Windows 95 aesthetic.” However, the fundamental interface hides a remarkable degree of sophistication.
Binks explains that their primary challenge involved three main aspects. “Part one involves operating the drone to capture images of the ground as effectively as possible.” The camera needs to be directed straight down, and each section of the ground must appear in several frames, ensuring that objects aren’t hidden by the angle of a wall or rock. Binks states, “We experience a 55 percent overlap, meaning one object will typically appear in nine frames.” The predefined flight routes are automatically charted at any altitude selected by the pilot, utilizing the 2-meter by 2-meter lidar information that forms the basis of the UK’s Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, the government’s official maps (which OS provides to MR at no cost). The software indicates to the pilot where to position themselves to maintain a clear line of sight with the drone while it is in flight, which is a legal obligation in the UK.
Binks clarifies, “The second feature of the software involves determining the grid reference for any specific pixel in an image, which can be achieved by using rotational vectors to find where they meet the ground.” The third component, according to Binks, “involves examining the images to determine what’s noteworthy.”
Roach and Parsons’ “janky” ready-made version required entering the exact colors you wished to find, while Binks, importantly, understood that it would be simpler to reverse that approach. “I instruct it to tally the pixels of a specific color, and then emphasize groups of colors that are atypical.” Binks explains that the red of a hiker’s jacket would still be noticeable against a grassy setting, “but if the scene consists entirely of rocks, then green would appear as a more uncommon color.”
The system is structured to function completely offline, enabling its use in isolated areas. This implies that the images must be retrieved from the drone post-flight, yet the analysis can occur in the field, where clusters of atypical-colored pixels are marked for human evaluation as the drone advances to the next search area. “There are numerous false positives, yet a human can review them quickly,” says Binks. “Typically, it’s brightly colored moss, or stones, or a sheep,” Roach remarks. “Yet occasionally, it’s an individual.”
THE RUGGED, BOULDER-FILLED backcountry behind the Glencoe Ski Center served as an almost ideal testing area for MR Maps’ latest features. Between the summit of the lifts and the narrow road that winds downward to a terminus in Glen Etive, there’s scarcely anything apart from boulders, brownish clumps of grass, and the rare deer. “The terrain in this area is rather intricate,” states Brian Brathurst, a deputy team leader at Glencoe MR, with an accent and a tone of modesty that reveals his Zimbabwean background. “There are numerous boulder fields and many gully systems, allowing you to walk within five or 10 meters of someone without noticing them.”
As the search entered its third week, the likelihood of discovering Kelly alive diminished, and the urgency of the efforts was naturally reduced. “Unfortunately, individuals must live their own lives,” Brathurst remarks. “However, in our area, we usually don’t abandon these matters.” We went out on every available day we had. Throughout those six weeks, there was consistently someone outside—individuals wrapping up work in the afternoon and venturing into unexamined areas. “It never truly ceased.”
Upon their arrival, Binks, Roach, and Parsons were thoroughly informed. “Without the efforts made by Glencoe, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we did,” says Binks. The two Dans piloted one drone while Binks managed another, splitting the most promising search areas and heading to different starting locations. Even with all the effort they had invested in the software, they felt anxious. “We’d discovered our jackets in fields and mimicked it,” recalls Parsons, “but we had never come across anything that we weren’t aware we had already placed there.”
David began navigating his initial search zone, “Area A.” However, approximately 10 minutes into the flight, the drone began to fade from view. Frustrated that it had already failed, he recalled it and remembered to adjust the software. “I figured, alright, I’ll tackle Area B next.” “However, during that time, I’ll review what I have from Area A.” He began to sift through the flagged pictures, and all at once, there it appeared. “Mr. Kelly appeared in two of the images,” recalls Binks. “I was astonished.”
Upon arriving at the location, Glencoe’s recovery team discovered that Kelly had plummeted several meters, sustaining lethal head and chest injuries. Brathurst states that there is no way to know exactly when he died. However, on the evening of September 7, there were combine harvesters operating further up the valley. Due to Kelly’s final message, Binks states, we believe he possibly headed directly towards those lights believing it was the Ski Center and fell along the way. “However, we will never truly know for certain.”
It was evident that Kelly was far from the location he believed he was in. Nonetheless, the region where he was ultimately located had been thoroughly searched. However, Kelly had slipped into a ravine, blocking the view of rescuers on the ground. The subdued hues of his attire had rendered him nearly invisible from above. “Binks explains that he had on a light brown shirt and dark blue pants.” “To the human eye, it’s quite challenging to distinguish.” However, to the computer, it appears completely distinct from its environment—and thus it is very noticeable.
Brathurst was among the volunteers who had physically searched that region. “He mentions that we actually walked within about 20 or 30 meters of him.” And still they hadn’t observed anything.
Locating Charlie Kelly in the initial area they examined required a significant amount of luck, but it also demonstrated the impressive capabilities of MR Maps. The software has demonstrated its value in several other investigations in the months since, mainly by assisting in narrowing down areas of interest. “Parsons states, ‘Dan enjoys bragging that we maintain a 100 percent success rate.’” “Even though we’ve discovered just one individual, we’ve never surveyed a region where someone was present and not located them.”
Up to now, the software has primarily been utilized in the Lake District. However, with the support of Mike Park, Roach, Parsons, and Binks have also been helping other teams nationwide when asked. When the renowned British television physician Michael Mosley disappeared on the Greek island of Symi, Park even spoke with his Greek colleagues about the three of them traveling out to assist. “It truly appeared to be ideal landscape for this system, as it was rocky, and this can view around all the rocks,” says Binks. Ultimately, Mosley was located prior to their deployment, but it’s clear how their software could lessen the painful wait for families like Mosley’s and alleviate the strain on personnel in the field.
In the UK, MR is encountering increasing pressure. “The number of callouts has been rising for years,” states Ian Bunting, operations director for the umbrella organization MR England & Wales, “but we’ve observed a significant increase since Covid.” He states that hiking and various outdoor activities gained immense popularity after team sports were prohibited, and with international travel restricted, the national parks of the country experienced a significant increase in visitors. “Following that, there’s the growth of social media,” Bunting states, which has aided in promoting specific locations.
Cockermouth, Dan Roach, and Parsons’ crew in the Lake District responded to a historic number of callouts last year. In North Wales, the Llanberis MR team, responsible for Yr Wyddfa, the region’s tallest mountain, publicly cautioned that their team members were facing the risk of “burnout” after responding to over 300 incidents in 2023—an increase from only 100 in 2008. Having volunteered for 30 years with Edale MR in the Peak District, Bunting notes that the responsibility can be considerable. “There are members in my team who have handled more than 100 incidents independently,” he states. “After training, equipment inspections, and all that, I reached 600 hours last year.”
“The essential point is that individuals are volunteers,” Bunting states, “and the wonderful aspect of volunteering is that you have the option to decline. However, generally speaking, those who choose to volunteer typically do not refuse.” In this context, any resource that decreases the time spent on searches is a valuable enhancement to the MR toolkit, he states. Binks and Roach’s program isn’t usually required for most callouts when the person’s location is identified. However, its ability to reduce the time dedicated to resource-draining “formal searches” (which account for 10 to 15 percent of yearly callouts based on data provided by MR England & Wales) is significant.
According to Lucintel, a market research firm, the worldwide market for search and rescue drones is approximately valued at $4 billion. However, even with their product’s countless potential applications in mountainous areas globally, Binks and Roach show no desire to market it. In the UK, Binks has consistently offered MR Maps at no charge for anyone participating in search and rescue efforts. This involves the police, and a number of agencies have begun trying out the drone enhancement. “Since it will be utilized for search, I’m fairly pleased with that,” Binks states.
“I’ve never been particularly keen on making money from it,” he states. Rather, his motivation is straightforward. “I really appreciate the aspects of solving problems.” Ultimately, he emphasizes that the sole actual development expense was their time—Roach’s, Parsons’, and his—which they, along with thousands of other MR volunteers throughout the UK, are pleased to contribute to assist those in need.
WHEN TWO UNIFORMED police officers tapped on Emer Kennedy’s door in late October 2023, they merely stated, “You know the reason for our visit,” she recollects. She had been wishing against all odds that the result would change. However, after six weeks, she states that his “primary concern was whether they would locate him before winter arrives.” And if they didn’t, would they ever locate him?
Individuals journeyed from distant places for Charlie Kelly’s funeral. Colleagues from various regions of the nation. Friends from universities across the globe. The Pogues performed while his coffin was being removed, and a fundraiser was held for charity—with the funds going to the Glencoe MR team. “Although they do it voluntarily, they are remarkable professionals,” states Kennedy. “If that Mountain Rescue team hadn’t developed that software and hadn’t been open to testing it out there … ” She lets the thought trail off. Ultimately, she expresses, “I’m simply relieved we achieved closure.” It signifies that his children can experience life. “And you see, we must bid farewell—his loved ones and friends needed to say their goodbyes.”
