Team: 17
School: Everest Academy
Area of Science: Mathematics-Probability
Proposal: My goal is to fly with the Air Force. One of the unfortunate parts of being a pilot is the possibility of needing to be rescued. In these situations, it is imperative that downed crew are found as quickly as possible. If an individual is lost, it could be the difference between life and death. My research project is most useful in search and rescue applications, like with a downed pilot, where short-range two-way communication or a beacon is involved.
The inspiration for my project comes from my father. He was calling for elk, and wanted to know whether or not he would come across more elk if he was moving and calling, or if he should stay still and call. How this situation is similar to real life scenarios is that the hunter would be the downed pilot. The mimic of an elk call would be a radio distress call to a search party. The herd of elk would be the rescue party.
In order to model the elk hunting question, I will need to research behaviors of elk and different types of elk calls. Being a beginner programmer I will also need to learn how to use an appropriate software program, which is NetLogo.
I decided to do the elk model instead of the downed pilot model because it would make for a great Father’s Day present, and researching specific information about elk behavior and calls would be easier than finding classified military search and rescue equipment specifications.
Team Members:
Sponsoring Teacher: Creighton Edington