Project To Save Lives Wins First Prize

An interdisciplinary team of SEAS professors has won first prize for a project that uses wireless devices to locate survivors trapped in structural collapses or fires. Professors Peter Kinget, John Kymissis, Xiaodong Wang and Gil Zussman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Dan Rubenstein of the Department of Computer Science will receive funding from Vodafone Americas Foundation's Wireless Innovation Project, an initiative to identify and fund innovative wireless-related technology that addresses critical social issues.

 

 "Structural collapses, whether from earthquakes, terror attacks, structural problems, or fire, result in tragic consequences," says Assistant Professor Gil Zussman, the project's principal investigator. "Improving rescue techniques will increase the chances of survival for the victims of these catastrophic events."

The group's winning project, Active Networked Tags for Disaster Recovery Applications, consists of a wireless system that will assist in locating people trapped in buildings. It will be based on active networked tags that will be embedded in the building structure and also carried by the users, e.g., attached to their clothing. Other components will include cell phones and wireless mobile devices. The active tags will be powered by energy harvested from the environment, such as light or movement, and will have ultra-low power communications capabilities.

During an emergency, the tags would move into a networked mode and transmit information to receivers that will be in the hands of rescuers at the disaster site. In a long-term emergency, such as a structural collapse, the tags will optimize energy consumption to ensure continuous operation. The team members' long-term vision is to provide rescue forces with a system that would give them a good understanding of the situation within a disaster site in much the same way as an X-ray gives information about a human body.

In order for the active tags to operate effectively using only energy accumulated via harvesting, a new ultra-low power design is necessary. Building on the professors' previous research in the areas of organic electronics, energy harvesting, ultra-low power communications, and energy efficient networking, the project will take a holistic cross-layer design approach.

 

The project was selected from nearly 100 submitted by applicants from universities and non-profit organizations across the country. In announcing the winners, Vodafone Americas Foundation Chair Peters Suh said that the disaster recovery project "has incredible potential to save lives in the case of natural disasters and in a myriad of other scenarios. We are extremely inspired by these innovations and excited to provide funding to help bring them closer to implementation." The project was featured at the Global Philanthropy Forum in Washington, D.C. in late April.