Siren: Context-aware Computing for Firefighting, at Pervasive2004

Siren: Context-aware Computing for Firefighting

Xiaodong Jiang, Nicholas Chen, Jason Hong, Kevin Wang University of California, BerkeleyLeila Takayama James LandayStanford University University of Washington

March 14, 2015 2Siren: Context-aware Computing for Firefighting

Motivation

Fires cause great harm 1,755,000 fires in the United States in 1998 4000 deaths, 25000 injuries, 100 firefighter

deaths / year Information intensive task

“Firefighting is making a lot of decisions on very little information”

Convergence of sensing and communication


Research Overview Goal

Support interaction between firefighters working inside urban structures

Approach: User-centered DesignDesign Principles:4 months of field study

Evaluation:Quick feedback

Prototype Solution:Off-the-shelf technology


Outline

Field studies results From field to design Siren architecture Siren messaging application Evaluation Conclusion & Future work


Field Studies

Method 4 months, 3 depts Interviews in

work environment 1 field exercise 2 emergency calls

Participants 1 assistant chief 4 battalion chiefs 2 captains, 2 engineers 5 firefighters


Fieldwork Results

Firefighters have an incomplete picture Situational assessment is done by sending advanced

team into fires Individual firefighter confined to a limited space

Current communication systems are inadequate Require explicit control Broadcast and ephemeral Detached from information gathering

Firefighters operate in harsh environments Inherently unreliable nature of any infrastructure


Communication

“There is a lot of noise on the fire ground. You’re inside; the fire is burning; it makes noise; there’s breaking glass; there’s chain saws above your head where they’re cutting a hole in the roof; there’s other rigs coming in with sirens blaring; lots of radio traffic; everybody trying to radio at the same time.”


Need for Tacit Communication

Context-dependent sharing of mission-critical information “See through the eyes of fellow firefighters”

Opportunistic, spontaneous, persistent When communication happens is context

dependent Often triggered by external events, without

human initiation Can be replayed and shared


Tacit Communication: An Example

C

A

B Abandon


From Field to Design

Tacit communication Ad-hoc P2P Delayed multi-hop Context dependence

Robustness: multiple levels of redundancy Path redundancy Storage redundancy Version redundancy Feedback redundancy


Siren Architecture

Adapted Context Fabric (Hong et. al.) for a P2P network of Wi-Fi-enabled Pocket PCs

Siren Modular Applications

Siren

Context Rule Engine

InfoSpace

StorageManager

Multi-hopCommunication

Manager


Storage Manager

An InfoSpace consists of tuples Each firefighter owns an InfoSpace containing data

about himself, other peers and the environment Tags to specify expiration

InfoSpace snapshot A view maintained by each device of entities on the

Siren network Snapshot taken by aggregating sensor readings over

a given time window InfoSpace operators (insert, retrieve) unify

storage and communication


Multi-hop Communication Manager

Message format XML over HTTP Semantic slots

Time-based message queuing & routing One queue for each source Queue is sorted by time Keep forwarding to all neighbors until all semantic

slots expire Version redundancy

Not overwrite older messages as newer versions arrive – why?

Message id: ….Source: ….Time_Created:Semantic Slot 1:Semantic Slot 2:Semantic Slot 3:

Type: locationValue: 525 Soda HallConfidence: 70%Expiration:


Context Rule Engine

Take InfoSpace snapshots as input, generate user alerts

Production system consisting of “if-then” rules

Currently supports five types of alerts “dangerous place” “danger to oneself” “next to dangerous place” “others in danger” “instructions”

IF (firefighter F IN room A) AND (surrounding temperature > 1500F) THEN (generate_alert (firefighter F1 in danger)) AND (generate_alert (room A is a dangerous place))


Siren-based Messaging Application for Firefighters

Running on Wi-Fi-enabled Pocket PCs A set of context rules A map-based user interface

Use of Berkeley motes Location beacon Mobile sensing Environmental sensing


Video


Evaluation

Used by a group of four firefighters in their fire house

Positives Communication redundancy for large complex urban

structures (hospitals, high rises, warehouses) Location tracking enhance firefighter safety Like UI with no manual input

Concerns Ruggedness of technology Risks of new technology Deployment issues


Ruggedness of Technology

“It’s got to be tough; you’ve got to be able to drop it; it’s got to

be able to take extreme heat; it’s

got to be able to get wet.”


Thermal Imaging Cameras PASS System

Risks of New Technologies


Deployment Issues

Tighter integration with existing tools (use in conjunction with thermal imager to narrow search areas)

Sensor deployment “Most effective tools for us are always

those we can directly access and maintain”


Conclusion & Future Work

Conclusion User-centered design of Siren Support tacit communication needs Siren messaging application & evaluation

Future Work Dealing with uncertainty in sensor data Multimodal interaction techniques Deployment strategy

Thanks to:Berkeley Fire DeptEl Cerrito Fire DeptAlameda Fire DeptNSF ITR, CITRISLawrence Leung Xiaodong Jiang

Nicholas ChenJason I. Hong

Kevin WangLeila A. TakayamaJames A. Landay

http://guir.berkeley.edu/siren

Siren: Context-aware Computing for Firefighting, at Pervasive2004

Technology

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