Last Updated on May 16, 2026 by Daily News Staff

Adeel Khalid, Kennesaw State University

A combination of infrared imaging, thermal imaging and color cameras on an uncrewed drone, along with an AI system to interpret the data, can help emergency responders and search-and-rescue teams locate, identify and track people who have gone missing in the wilderness. The experimental system helps responders pinpoint where a missing person is and determine whether they are hurt or even alive.

People who get lost or hurt while exploring nature can become stranded for days. Rescue teams often use drones to look for the person or signs of their whereabouts. The small drone my colleagues and I built at my lab at Kennesaw State University flies autonomously using a grid search pattern. It sends live video and images to a ground station operated by the rescue team.

When the AI system finds a person, it analyzes images to determine whether the individual is upright or lying on the ground. It segments parts of the person’s body, identifying the person’s head and the body’s position. It then zeroes in on the forehead. It extracts forehead temperature readings, pixel by pixel, from the imaging data to estimate forehead temperature. We have two papers detailing these findings accepted for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation Forum 2026 conference.

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Our AI model then assesses whether the person is conscious or unconscious and identifies abnormal temperatures that could indicate heat stress, hypothermia or other physical complications, or death – all vital information for a search-and-rescue team.

In field trials we have conducted, the system has provided consistent temperature readings of the heads of volunteers from our research team who have walked out into a variety of environments, under different conditions.

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Why it matters

It is critical to get accurate and timely information on the whereabouts of a missing person. The likelihood that the person will survive decreases steeply as time passes.

An AI-enhanced drone can make search-and-rescue operations significantly more efficient than sending teams of people out into the environment to search on foot, especially in poor weather conditions or under thick foliage. Rescuers who know whether a person is conscious or unconscious can also better gear up for what they need to do to retrieve the person and administer aid. Our technology could save lives.

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What other research is being done

Search-and-rescue personnel use various kinds of drones, but the machines often lack the ability to positively identify humans, especially under thick foliage, in bad weather or when the person is lying down or unconscious. The AI-based technology we have developed overcomes those challenges.

Better sensors that are very lightweight, that can function at night or in rain, and can see more clearly through thick foliage could further improve our drone and drones used by others. Researchers are devising AI-powered sound recognition for detecting screams for help, advanced thermal imaging for better nighttime vision and autonomous drones that could act as first responders.

Also under development are drones that can carry heavy payloads, such as flotation devices, fly for up to 14 hours or perform real-time mapping of the ground below.

What’s next

One of our next steps is to have multiple drones fly together and autonomously coordinate search-and-rescue operations among themselves. This will allow the technology to cover a much larger area, perhaps hundreds of square miles.

We are also designing a large drone that can carry up to 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of payload and stay aloft for an hour.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Adeel Khalid, Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Kennesaw State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Last Updated on May 4, 2026 by Daily News Staff

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the United States, the holiday has become a celebration of Mexican-American culture and heritage, often involving parades, parties, and traditional foods such as tacos and margaritas.

How will you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo

The Substitute Teacher Who Wanted Blueprints of Our House

Elementary school memories tend to blend together — cafeteria pizza, playground arguments, the eternal struggle of times tables — but every once in a while, something happens that sticks with you for life. For me, that moment came in the fifth grade during a week when our regular teacher was out, and we cycled through substitute teachers like we were testing models for durability.

By midweek, in walked a substitute with a mysterious, slightly intense energy — the kind of vibe that suggested he either meditated at dawn or worked a graveyard shift doing something he couldn’t talk about. We settled into our seats, expecting worksheets or quiet reading time.

But nope.

He had other plans.

“Today,” he announced, “we’re going to draw schematics of our houses.”

Schematics. Not drawings. Not little houses with smoke coming out of the chimney. Actual blueprint-style schematics. He wanted the layout of our bedrooms, our parents’ rooms, and where the pets slept. Every detail.

Now, to be fair, Highlights Magazine did have a feature that month teaching kids how to draw floor plans. So maybe he was just a bit overenthusiastic about cross-curricular learning. Or maybe — and this is my completely rhetorical adult theory — he worked the graveyard shift as a cat burglar gathering intel between heists. Just moonlighting between blueprints.

While the rest of the class tried their best to recreate their actual homes, my imagination sprinted in a totally different direction. The house I drew had:

• A massive master bedroom with an oversized bathroom for my parents
• Separate bedrooms for us kids on the opposite side of the house
• A kitchen placed right in the center like a command center
• And the dog — the true VIP — had a luxurious two-story doghouse

I had basically created a dream home designed by a 10-year-old watching too much Fantasy Homes by the Yard.

Later that day, my mom asked the usual question: “So, what did you guys do today?”

“We drew schematics of our house,” I said casually.

The look on her face was instant and intense. She wasn’t panicked, but there was definitely a “Why does a substitute teacher need to know the exact layout of my home?” expression happening. Parental instincts activated.

But then I showed her my diagram.

She stared at it. Blinked. Then sighed with massive relief.

“This isn’t our house,” she said.

“Nope! I made it up,” I replied proudly.

Her shoulders relaxed so much she probably lost five pounds of tension in one instant. If the substitute was secretly planning a heist, my masterpiece of misinformation would have sent him to the wrong house entirely.

Looking back, the whole moment feels like a sitcom setup — a mysterious substitute collecting “house schematics,” me creating a completely fictional piece of architecture, and my mom going on a full emotional journey in under 30 seconds.

Maybe he was just excited about the Highlights Magazine floor-plan activity. Or maybe — just maybe — he moonlighted in cat burglary. We’ll never know.

But if he was, I like to think I threw him completely off the scent.

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