What types of SAR related software is out there? What does it do for you?
Search Manager. Check the Air Force Inland SAR course at the National SAR School for info and the download. They have a new version that was in testing last summer. I haven't seen it and the following site does not have a link to it yet.
http://www.1af.acc.af.mil/units/afrcc/index.asp
How does Search Manager differ from IMU?
i should have specified....this isnt for CAP use.
One of the best SAR team management and incident documentation platofrms is Decisions for Heroes [Bad Link Removed] Designed and built from the ground up with SAR in mind.
^^Carefully check that site link before clicking through- I got redirected to a different site that was blocked by my browser.
I would recommend typing in the link directly to the browser, and NOT clicking on the link provided!!!
Search Manager is a program that semi-automates the decision process on which areas to search and how many times to search them in order to achieve the best probability of finding a lost aircraft. The procedure is taught at the Inland SAR Planners course. This program semi-automates the procedure. The IMU has a module that attempts to do the same thing but I have never gotten it to work that well for multiple sorties over multiple operational periods.
SAR Manager is a TOOL, not a decisions process. SAR MANAGER will not make decisions for you, It simply does the math involved for the CSAD search theory. You can not use this alone, and you MUST have the education and judgment for it to be used properly.
The IMU version math is NOT correct and should NOT be relied on! SAR Manager has its issues as well, remember AFRCC does not endorse this siftware, it was a private venture from one of the Inland SAR School students. For best results you should double check your math with the Inland SAR CSAD algorithm. It should not be used unless you have been trained and ARE CURRENT with CSAD theory!
The actual link for Search Manager is https://ftp.secure.intertech-usa.com/thinclient/ and the pass is afrcc. This software is not specfic to CAP it is good for any type of SAR organization. In my Inland SAR course there were FBI and others that took the course and indicated that it would be great in lost persons searches.
Quote from: CommGeek on February 26, 2010, 12:22:13 AM
SAR MANAGER will not make decisions for you,
Like I said, it semi-automatics the decision
process. I made a good living cranking numbers to determine where to aim the nucs and iron bombs. It still came down to evaluating the numbers and then deciding what to do based on your mission objectives and a host of other factors. I will skip my canned rant on AI.
CommGeek: You just lost most of the folks planning SAR missions when you typed "CSAD theory". Far too many of our SAR planners believe it is either grid searches (and you search all the grids at least once before you go back and search again) or a route search (fly the route with a one mile offset to one side, then fly back with a one mile offset to the other side.)
Quote from: ammotrucker on February 26, 2010, 12:24:06 AM
The actual link for Search Manager is https://ftp.secure.intertech-usa.com/thinclient/ and the pass is afrcc. This software is not specfic to CAP it is good for any type of SAR organization. In my Inland SAR course there were FBI and others that took the course and indicated that it would be great in lost persons searches.
What's the username, it's asking for that and the pass. And yes, I tried using afrcc for both ;D
All of the following are free.
- From the Google Earth Library (private website, not a Google owned site) are kml/kmz files to overlay on Google Earth. http://www.gelib.com/
Aero Charts (WAC, SAC, TAC), Low Altitude Enroute Charts, High Altitude Enroute Charts, Aeronautical Terminal Procedure Diagrams, USGS Topo Maps, Real Time 3D Flight Tracking, Satellite Tracking
- From the National Weather Service in cooperation with the FAA, two Java applets that reside on your computer. A web browser isn't required but an active Internet connection is.
http://weather.aero/java/
-- HEMS Low Altitude Flight Tool - This java application was designed to assist flights for Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS). It features ceiling and visibility data, radar products, convection data, saved views, and high resolution GIS Data.
-- Flight Path Tool - Displays icing, turbulence, ceiling, visibility, temperature, winds, humidity, radar, satellite, AIRMETs, PiReps, METARs, and TAFs. All 3D data are shown both horizontally and vertically and can be animated in time. The Flight Path Tool lets you create vertical cross-sections along your flight route. It also allows you to see meteorograms of observed and forecasted conditions for any surface station. Flight Path Tool also uses high resolution GIS Data.
Win C.A.S.I.E. III - Computer Aided Search Information Exchange III (WC3) http://wcasie.com/default.aspx
Designed for missing person search but could be used for missing aircraft search. It helps manage the search and does all the math, including tracking POA, POC, POD, POS, shifting POA, sweep widths, coverage, etc. Calculates Mattson, O'Connor and Proportional consensus. Generate reports, track resources, etc. Has a "What If" feature that allows the input of a hypothetical event, for instance a new clue found in a segment, to see how it changes the other search parameters.
WinCASIE was developed by active SAR personnel and managers, several of whom were math professors at the University of Arizona. The program was originally written in the 1970s to run on a Texas Instruments programmable calculator. Subsequent versions were written for the Commodore 64, DOS and finally a Windows version (WC III) in 2006. In 2006, before the Windows version was released, I was on a six-day search in a National Park where the NPS used the DOS version. The DOS version is still available. WinCASIE is continually updated now by David Lovelock who retired from his math prof job at Arizona. A couple of years ago he received the Hal Foss Award from NASAR (its highest award) for his continuing work on WC. He and others have also developed the following software.
These can be run as stand-alone programs or seamlessly integrated into WinCASIE. http://wcasie.com/sarsoftware.aspx
SAR T-Cards is a program designed to help the unit responsible for tracking resources during an incident to do so in an organized and efficient manner. The program attempts to mimic the standard ICS physical T-Cards. Although SAR T-Cards is aimed at Search And Rescue incidents it can be used in any incident, large or small.
Clue Manager is a program geared towards Search and Rescue. It is designed to keep track of the clues found during a search.
ICS-SAR is a program that is designed to assist in the understanding and implementation of the Incident Command System (ICS) before and during Search and Rescue (SAR) incidents.
SARDECK stands for "Search And Rescue: Desktop Exercises from Cards and Know-how''. The program SARDECK helps to create and maintain the Clues, Events, and Resources, that support a particular table-top SAR scenario. Then it allows the instructor to select them in any order to construct multiple table-top exercises, each with its own timeline.
KwikNote is a program that allows you to create notes while working on other projects. It is designed to replace the pencil and pad frequently found beside computers for jotting down reminder notes.
Mike
We put a few pieces of software listed here:
http://www.pawingcap.com/information-technology
Rats - lots of Good News/Bad News. Good News - looks like some nice software tools for SARs. ;D Bad News - now I have to download them, learn to use them, and them start convincing others to use them. :(
Why dosent CAP use CSAD? Grid searches are outdated, not efficent, unless you have no LKP, PLS etc. out of 37 missiong aicraft searches I have worked in CAP only ONE did not have a last known point, and grid searches were used. . The problem is unless you went to Inland SAR School you dont understand the theory, not just for CSAD, but for all search missions. We need to do a better job to educate our members on this process. Its not as simple as just flying 1 mile track spacing at 1000ft. ALOT more involved. Dont even get me started on the POD charts on the 104.....
It is just too easy to send crews out on random grid searches on SAREXs instead of planning an actual missing aircraft search. We have senior wing staff who have attended the Inland SAR course but can't be bothered to spend over ten minutes planning a SAREX. I know a lot of pilots like it as well because then they can fly to the grid and just fly around instead of actually searching. Too bad you perform actual searches like you train.
Just saw that Google Maps has an integrated Lat/Long marker that you can put on if you enable labs.
Rob,
There's this thing, it has a free demo that I'm about to play with: http://sartechnology.ca/sartechnology/ST_Downloads.htm
http://www.incidentcommander.net/product.shtml is a training tool/game, and it should be free for you.