EXPLAINER: How is technology aiding Miami rescuers’ search?

Search teams have been using drones, sonar, highly sensitive microphones and a range of other new and established technologies to help search for people in the oceanside condominium building near Miami that collapsed into a smoldering pile of rubble. Joana Gaia, a professor of management science and systems at the University of Buffalo, said it’s common for search teams to use radar and microwaves that bounce off objects and can identify people and objects. “Once you get into that subterranean realm, ground robotics become incredibly useful,” said David Proulx, a vice president of unmanned systems at Teledyne FLIR, a defense contractor that specializes in thermal sensing. Search and rescue operations use two types of dogs on disaster scenes, both trained to detect human scent, said Mark Neveau, a former FEMA presidential appointee and disaster expert. They will be much more independent and operate as teammates rather than tools.” One technology available to the responders — but not on the scene Friday — is a microwave radar device developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the Department of Homeland Security that “sees” through concrete slabs, detecting the signatures of human respiration and heartbeats.