After the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on March 26, Carl Shipley, who manages the Coast Guard’s Remotely Operated Vehicle and Underwater Port Security (ROV & UPSEC) program, was called to Baltimore Harbor to help look for victims. Using the service’s SRS Fusion ROV, he and his team were able to identify the remains of two vehicles within the structure of the bridge and provide their GPS coordinates to dive teams before the day was over.
Three weeks later, however, one victim was still missing. So, when the Maryland State Police called again for help, Shipley knew they were going to have to try something different. One idea that seemed promising was a concept the Coast Guard had developed following the Lahaina, Hawaii wildfires, where the landscape also shifted. It involved integrating short range-unmanned aircraft systems (SR-UAS) with the subsurface ROV to get a real time map of the area above. This could help more accurately identify targets of interest below the water. But it had never been tested in the field operationally.
Shipley decided to go for it.
Petty Officer 1st Class Claudio Giugliano, a marine science technician (MST) began the effort with an aerial mapping mission. An SR-UAS pilot with the Atlantic Strike Teams (AST), his job was to deploy a short-range drone to capture the real-time overhead imagery from the bridge.
Once that was complete, Shipley turned this imagery into an orthomosiac map—basically a map layer that could be imported into the ROV system. He did this using software that stitched together the aerial drone images and their geo reference points and created a large real time map of the area. Typically, the ROV just uses Google satellite imagery, but this is often outdated and can impede the identification of targets below the waterline when the landscape has changed.
“After the fires in Lahaina we sent operators out to search the port and what they saw on their tablet was completely different than what they were now looking at,” said Shipley. “The bridge collapse was the same.”
In this case, not only had the bridge shifted location at multiple points, but there was also a ship trapped within the structure.
Shipley and Petty Officer 1st Class Miguel DeJesus-Vega, an ROV operator from AST, had the ROV perform side scan sonar runs in and around the bridge. The side scan sonar operations mapped 317,000 square yards of sea floor, identifying the remaining debris. Together with the new overhead images, this enabled them to better select search areas and rule out locations where there was a low probability of finding the victim.
Ultimately, this process helped the search and rescue team conclude that the body hadn’t drifted away and was still in the debris. This meant rescuers would have to recover the twisted steel and concrete and other debris and comb through it before they started any detonations.
Shipley is grateful the Coast Guard was able use the concept developed after Lahaina to integrate its unmanned systems and get a clearer operating picture after the bridge collapse. He expects to see the systems deployed together in future by Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF) units for Search and Rescue (SAR), Enforcement of Laws and Treaties (ELT), Marine Environmental Protection (MEP), and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions. Both systems are used across the DSF and are capable of deployment to support Operational Commanders nationwide.
“Anytime you have a type of natural disaster or anytime we have to reopen a port, we now have ability to fly above and do below the surface as well,” he said.
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