Integrated Firefighter Location and Physiological Monitor Jim Duckworth Worcester Polytechnic Institute Paul Nahass Foster Miller Inc. 1
Project Motivation 12/3/99: Six firefighters died in a warehouse fire literally within a few feet of safety in Worcester, MA. NFPA: lost/trapped 3 rd ranking cause of fatalities stress related heart attacks > 50% deaths Lives would be saved by a location, tracking, and physiological monitoring system which displays locations, paths, and landmarks (exits, etc.) and physiological status for multiple responders in 3 dimensions, requiring no pre-installed infrastructure and minimal setup Must be inexpensive and transparent to users 2
Project Goal & Partnerships Test feasibility of location and tracking combined with physiological monitoring: Monitor individuals, provide warning of harmful stress before a serious event Locate these and others within buildings Indoor location and tracking is very difficult! By summer 2008 develop proof of concept system Partnership: WPI Location & Tracking, System Integration Foster Miller Physiological Monitoring Globe Manufacturing PPE integration and VOC Worcester Fire Department 3
System Overview Personnel Unit Reference units Commander Display 4
Prototype System Goals Fundamental capabilities: 3-D location of each user relative to a chosen reference point Graphical display at the incident command center Graphical path information on all users Accuracy: ±1m Range: 20m Number of simultaneous users: 3 Location updates every 2 seconds Physiological information telemetry Heart Rate: ± 2.5 beats/min Respiration Rate: ± 2 breaths/min Oxygen Saturation Level: ±2% Skin ±1 F, and Environment Temperature ±5 F Posture and Activity Level 5
Building Testing 6
Locator Operational & Physical Specs 3 Radios! Transmitter - ranging signal Physiological wireless channels (PSM T-shirt and Pulse Ox) Command and Control Support 100 locators Updates each second Low power, long battery life, automatic on/off Monitor and report environmental status data Temperature, movement, diagnostics, distress button Small size, lightweight 7
Location Results Religious Center 8
Location Error Plots - example 1st floor error: 0.68m 2nd floor error: 0.3m 9
Physiological Status Monitoring (PSM) System Platform being developed for multiple applications Monitors Heart Rate, Respiration Rate, Skin Temperature, Activity Level and Posture Comfortable t-shirt form factor Extremely flexible sensor platform Designed for military to withstand rugged environments PSM T-Shirt 10
Physiological Status Monitoring (PSM) System Complete sensor suite integrated into performance garment Hardware On-body computer and transmitter On-body, integrated accelerometer PC connectivity for data download and storage (USB) Individual products: Watch for real time feedback & monitoring Software CD-based Powerful functionality tailored to specific needs and budgets 11
Physiological Testing Pulse Ox WFD requested addition of pulse ox so we can monitor oxygen saturation levels Wireless pulse-ox device developed at WPI Development supported by USAMRMC (TATRC) grant Battery powered - >200 hours (1 sec updates) 12
Physiological Monitoring Testing Test subject crawling Test subject in turnout gear Test subject in prone position 13
Physiological Testing Verification Testing to confirm PSM data agreement with portable capnography and pulse oximetry systems Subjects tested in FF gear mimicking FF activities WPI Locator Capnograph 14
Respiration Rate With Turnout Gear Standing Walking Face Down Face Up Sitting Crawling 15
Heart Rate No Turnout Gear Standing Walking Face Down Face Up Sitting Crawling 16
Skin Temperature With Turnout Gear Standing Walking Face Down Face Up Sitting Crawling 17
Activity Level Standing Walking Face Down Face Up Sitting Crawling 18
Religious Center FM Respiration 19
Religious Center FM Heart Rate 20
Situational Awareness Display Location and Physiological Monitoring Interface developed with input from WFD 21
Demo 22
User Community Feedback Worcester Fire Department many meetings International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Redmond Symposium (Chicago, IL) - Oct 2007 Boston Fire Department Health and Safety Committee Boston, MA Mar 2008 Worcester County Fire Chiefs Worcester, MA April 2008 Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) Indianapolis, IN April 2008 State and Provincial Professional Firefighters Association Anchorage, AK May 2008 Cleveland Fire Department Health and Safety Committee Cleveland, OH June 2008 WPI workshop August 2008 Calgary Fire Department Health and Safety Committee Calgary, AB August 2008 23
Fire Fighter Surveys Globe Manufacturing surveyed the firefighting community to determine firefighters perceived value of an integrated location and physiological monitoring system. The survey was administered in the Globe trade show booth at IAFF Redmond Symposium, Firefighter Health and Safety, Chicago October 2007 FDIC Indianapolis April 2008 Survey results were consistent between the two venues - with a very positive response to the system presented. Biggest concern raised was radio signal transmission out of the building - as this is currently a significant issue for firefighters. 24
Firefighter Survey Results Firefighters surveyed said they strongly agreed that a real-time physiological monitor would improve firefighter safety, particularly while wearing Hazmat Gear and during Fire Ground operations strongly agreed that the addition of real-time location monitoring on the Fire Ground would improve firefighter safety were very willing to wear a modified T-Shirt during operations and training to collect data were willing to add a 1 lb radio to their current gear in order to collect and transmit the required data. Well over 90% of respondents expressed interest in testing the combined locator/physiological monitoring system and 100% requested further information on the system. 25
FDIC April 2008 Globe Manufacturing Booth 26
Successes and Challenges System Integration (physiological and location) new custom radios and hardware performed well Excellent new Situational Awareness Display Location with Physiological Monitoring Physiological Monitoring performed well PSM shirt and WPI Pulse OX sensor Results comparable to commercial instruments 27
WPI Workshop - Demo Tuesday morning Demonstration of physiological monitoring Wednesday live testing by WFD Integrated location and tracking with physiological monitoring system 28
Acknowledgments The rest of the WPI, FMI, Globe Mfg teams Worcester Fire Department The support of FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Thank you! Jim Duckworth, rjduck@wpi.edu Paul Nahass, pnahass@foster-miller.com www.ece.wpi.edu/research/ppl/ 29