VisionICE: Air–Ground Integrated Intelligent Cognition Visual Enhancement System Based on a UAV

Post-disaster search and rescue is critical to disaster response and recovery efforts and is often conducted in hazardous and challenging environments. However, the existing post-disaster search and rescue operations have problems such as low efficiency, limited search range, difficulty in identifying the nature of the target, and wrong target location. Therefore, this study develops an air–ground integrated intelligent cognition visual enhancement system based on a UAV (VisionICE). The technique combines a portable AR display device, a camera-equipped helmet, and a quadcopter UAV for efficient patrols over a wide area. First, the system utilizes wireless image sensors on the UAV and helmet to capture images from the air and ground views. Using the YOLOv7 algorithm, the cloud server calculates and analyzes these visual data to accurately identify and detect targets. Lastly, the AR display device obtains real-time intelligent cognitive results. The system allows personnel to simultaneously acquire air and ground dual views and achieve brilliant cognitive results and immersive visual experiences in real time. The findings indicate that the system demonstrates significant recognition accuracy and mobility. In contrast to conventional post-disaster search and rescue operations, the system can autonomously identify and track targets of interest, addressing the difficulty of a person needing help to conduct field inspections in particular environments. At the same time, the system can issue potential threat or anomaly alerts to searchers, significantly enhancing their situational awareness capabilities.