UAV-Based Visual Detection and Tracking of Drowning Victims in Maritime Rescue Operations

Maritime search and rescue (SAR) operations are challenged by vast search areas, poor visibility, and the time-critical nature of victim survival, particularly in dynamic coastal areas. This study presents an intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) framework for real-time detection, tracking, and prioritization of people in distress at sea. Unlike existing UAV-based SAR systems that rely on visual sensing or offline human intervention, the proposed framework integrates RGB-thermal multimodal sensing and posture recognition to enhance victim prioritization and survivability estimation. Visual-thermal data support human posture detection, inference of physiological indicators, and autonomous UAV navigation. Metadata are transmitted to a ground control station to enable adaptive altitude control, trajectory rejoining, and multi-target prioritization. Field-inspired experiments in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam demonstrated robust real-time performance, achieving 23 FPS with detection accuracy up to 84% for swimming subjects and over 50% for drowning postures. These findings demonstrate that Edge-AI-enabled UAVs can serve as a practical and efficient solution for maritime SAR, reducing response times and improving mission outcomes.