Review of Leeway: Field Experiments and Implementation
Abstract
Fundamental shortfalls in our understanding of leeway drift behavior have hampered the search and rescue (SAR) planning community's ability to predict search object drift with high confidence. This report organizes the existing body of knowledge on leeway to address many of the shortcomings in the present use of leeway. Ninety-five leeway target types reported on by twenty-five field studies are presented. The test objects and methods used to measure leeway in these studies are reviewed. The leeway guidance of the present U.S. Coast Guard search planning tools is also reviewed. A comparison between an older leeway data set and a recent leeway data set is used to illustrate recent gains in our understanding of leeway behavior. A new model is presented for the prediction of leeway drift that takes full advantage of the higher data quality. With search object classes for which high quality leeway data have been measured, this new model provides substantial reductions in search area size when the new model is compared to leeway predictions made by existing U.S. Coast Guard search planning methods. A systematic categorization of the possible targets of interest to the Coast Guard is presented as a leeway taxonomy. The leeway taxonomy is based upon rules that describe the target and help quickly guide the search planner through the seven possible levels of the taxonomy. Sixty-three search object leeway classes and their leeway speed coefficients and divergence angles are recommended for manual search planning tools.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA366414
Entities
People
- Arthur A. Allen
- Jeffrey V. Plourde
Organizations
- United States Coast Guard Research & Development Center