New wireless technologies for finding missing people in avalanches

In the Veneto Dolomites , on the border with Trentino, a new season of measurements is underway for the 'LoRa Snow' research project , dedicated to the development of low-power wireless technology to improve the location of missing persons in avalanches . The project is being carried out by the Wireless Networks Lab of the 'A. Faedo' Institute of Information Science and Technology in Pisa (CNR-ISTI), in collaboration with the ReMoTe service of the CNR Research Area in Pisa and the Pervasive Electromagnetic Lab of the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

The goal is to study the effectiveness of some wireless technologies to be used for search and rescue, and then create a portable, low-power prototype , integrable into drones, which will allow rescue teams to quickly locate people buried by avalanches from great distances .

"The experiment is based on the combination of two existing technologies," explains Michele Girolami, researcher at CNR-ISTI and project coordinator. "The first is associated with Artva (Avalanche Transceiver) technology , a mandatory device, along with a shovel and probe, for ski mountaineering, off-piste skiing, and snowshoeing in avalanche-prone conditions. Artva emits a radio signal with a radius of a few dozen meters that provides an estimate of the distance to the person wearing it . The second is LoRa technology , which allows the transmission of radio signals that can reach up to hundreds of meters . Our intention," continues the expert, "is to combine them in order to use two technologies together, enabling rescue teams to establish initial radio contact with the missing person at much greater distances than currently permitted , thus facilitating the localization and exhumation phases."