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Smart Suit Uses GPS and Wi-Fi to Save Lives
Posted by Charlie White at 12:08 AM on October 30, 2007
The situation is confusing enough when havoc strikes, and when radios aren't working and firefighters don't know where their colleagues are, it gets a whole lot worse. Learning from the communications problems of 9/11, designers solved those problems with this Smart Suit whose embedded sensors transmit the exact location and vital signs of each firefighter or rescue worker to a central command center. Hey, there are lots of reasons why this tech could be helpful for disaster workers, including those California firefighters risking their lives as you read this.
The suit opens a reliable communications link via Wi-Fi, a crucial component since phone networks are likely to be either completely jammed or not functioning at all during a major disaster. And, since vital signs and location can be closely estimated, firefighters buried under debris but still alive can be located and rescued more quickly.
The Smart Suit has been tested and approved by the European Space Agency, and will soon be deployed in Europe—and hopefully in the US before the next big disaster strikes. [Inventor Spot]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
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WMyers
Posted 2:23 PM 29/10/07
This sounds like a great way to keep firefighters safe...tell them they have to stay in WiFi range of their truck.
WMyers
tfonseca
Posted 1:01 PM 31/10/07
I'm responsible for this project here at YDreams so let me clarify some issues:
- First of all the objective of the project was to develop a system to be used in "forest fire fighting". Fighting fire in buildings is a completely different scenario, for which different technology has to be used for telecommunications, location, etc…
- Also the pictures shown in this post are from a very early stage in the project, when Wifi was being considered as an option for communications between the truck and operational agents, but dismissed after testing. The technology actually used works in the VHF/UHF frequency range. Wifi is only used by the field manager for his PDA with managing software - since these rarely go very far from the truck.
Thanks for the interest.
tfonseca
joshers13
Posted 1:22 PM 29/10/07
Don't let the marketing people mess you up. If VHF, UHF or 800 MHz radio frequencies can't penitrate a building what makes one think that 2.4 or 4.9 GHz is going to have better luck?
WiFi can barely make it in an out of your house which is likely mostly wood. You can't reliably get WiFi from the street into a building more than 6 stories high, especially if that building is mostly steel and concrete or glass with mylar tint ala NYC.
This is a valuable tool in many cases, but it would not have worked well in a situation like 9/11.
joshers13