Search and rescue in a forest environment

The problem of search and rescue in a jungle environment is discussed in this paper. Depending on the relative position between the unknown radio station and the searcher equipment, three propagation mechanisms should be considered in the analysis of the radio path: (a) Both equipments immersed in the jungle; (b) The searcher equipment in a plane or helicopter (ground-to-air link); (c) The searcher equipment on the ground outside the jungle. Once the first two cases are well known, emphasis is given to case (c) where a mathematical model to evaluate the radio wave attenuation is proposed.