A ROS Gazebo plugin to simulate ARVA sensors

This paper addresses the problem to simulate ARVA sensors using ROS and Gazebo. ARVA is a French acronym which stands for Appareil de Recherche de Victims en Avalanche and represents the forefront technology adopted in Search & Rescue operations to localize victims of avalanches buried under the snow. The aim of this paper is to describe the mathematical and theoretical background of the transceiver, discussing its implementation and integration with ROS allowing researchers to develop faster and smarter Search &Rescue strategies based on ARVA receiver data. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed sensor model, We present a simulation scenario in which an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle equipped with the transceiver sensor performs a basic S&R pattern using the output of ARVA system.