FI-RESIST: Wearables for Firefighters Daniel Bartel, Christian Buzombo, Jean Plamin, Tony Quach Dr. Tracy Hammond, Josh Cherian
Knights of Columbus Hall Fire Bryan, Texas February 15th, 2013 2 Deaths First firefighter ran out of oxygen & couldn t find exit Second firefighter died during rescue
Issues with the Knights of Columbus Incident Communication Issues Slow Response Time Unaware of Surroundings Couldn t get out Couldn t find firefighter
Idea Integrate wearable technology with firefighters Potential Ideas: Biometric data Navigation Gas sensors Communication
Background: Firefighter Issues #1 cause of death: heart attack Respiratory Problems Body Temperature No efficient way to detect a problem! No way to communicate!
Background: Navigation Issues Navigate using ropes Where is everyone? How to get out?
Outside Mentor: Emily Magnotta (Volunteer Firefighter) First Meeting at Starbucks Gave broad scope of issues that firefighters face Suggestions on what sensors to implement Wildland vs. Structure Firefighter No way to monitor health Second Meeting at Volunteer Fire Department Let us try on firefighting equipment 30 Seconds to put on all equipment
College Station Fire Department 6 Chief Chief is often 100 yards away from scene Any sound has to be global & loud Firefighters Fire engines in process of attaining hot spot $11 million split evenly among all CS fire departments annually Product needs to be comfortable enough to wear all day
Summary of User Studies Talked to 20+ firefighters Comfortable Easy to use BioMetric/Navigation tracking would be utilized
Current Equipment SCBA - Self Contained Breathing Apparatus PASS Device - Personal Alert Safety System
Prior Work WISPER (Wireless Intelligent Sensor Platform for Emergency Responders) Drops positional markers Smart glasses to visualize movement Digital breadcrumbs track movement
Project Summary Provide real time biometric data for firefighters Give fire chief navigation history information for firefighters Create a wearable system which is: Cost effective Efficient Comfortable
Aggie Challenge: Advance Health Informatics As computers have become available for all aspects of human endeavors, there is now a consensus that a systematic approach to health informatics - the acquisition, management, and use of information in health - can greatly enhance the quality and efficiency of medical care and the response to widespread public health emergencies.
Challenges/Constraints Technology limitations Old Android phones Networking Navigation solutions RF Sensors Phone
Ethical Concerns Biometric data may be intercepted by outside sources Encrypt data with SSL Accuracy of data Supplementary tool not a replacement
Team Management Structure Jean Plamin - Monitor App/Front end Christian Buzombo - Navigation/Accelerometer Tony Quach - Biometric Application Daniel Bartel - Server/Backend
Software Development Method
Development Tools Dependency management: Maven, NPM Unit Testing: Mocha, JUnit, Manual testing Source Control: GitHub
Materials: Technology Used Zephyr Bioharness Node Server with Socket.io for real-time data Use of old android phones for backwards compatibility and cost effectiveness
The Fi-Resist System (high level)
Using Fi-Resist
Monitoring Firefighters
Warning to Danger
Tracking a Firefighter
Application Design Biometric Data: BioHarness Send data via BlueTooth every second Average Firefighter Heart Rate: 183 BPM +/-9 Caution: 192-210 BPM, Alert: 210+ BPM Data Transportation: WebSockets UI Design List => Detail View Color warnings
Lower-level: Azimuth Calculation Azimuth : Latitude, L Longitude Rotation Matrix Using Euler Angles: Yaw, Pitch, Roll
Lower-level: Distance Calculation Fourier Transform Complementary Filter
Dead Reckoning Errors Hardware Limitations Accelerometer Drift Sensor Delay Distance Measured (Meters) Actual (Meters) 1.026 0 2.024 2 13.023 13 15.137 15 21.714 20 Average Error: 0.2203219467
Recruiting Users Prototype was brought to firefighters for evaluation Received permission from fire chief Recruited through email/emily Pre & Post Study Questionnaire
User Feedback Find a way to prevent bioharness from moving when used Mobile application is intuitive and easy to use Sensors need to be accurate 100% of the time Push Notifications would be a good feature Snap vs Stretching and Sliding
Data Analysis
Feedback Summary Positive feedback from firefighters Results show that our project addresses many issues that firefighters currently face No discomfort when wearing equipment Firefighters open to integrate technology
Challenges Found Truck wireless network connection not as good BioHarness skin temperature doesn t actually exist Navigation Issues RF Arduino module reliability Accelerometer accuracy Old equipment Double Integration
Future Implementations Optimize navigation support Add gas sensor Download public building blueprints Push Notification on phone
Conclusion Our design is focused on solving the issues of navigation and health for firefighters Fi-Resist allow to properly monitor firefighters conditions while they are fighting fire It will help firefighters be more efficient and more safe.
Acknowledgements Internal External Josh Cherian Dr Hammond Cassandra Oduola Emily Magnotta
Questions?