WPI Precision Personnel Location System D Cyganski R

WPI Precision Personnel Location System D. Cyganski, R. James Duckworth, Vincent Amendolare Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, Massachusetts Advisory Committee Dinner, October 23, 2008 1

Position-Finding Technology for Emergency Personnel is a Critical Need Ø 12/3/99: Six firefighters died in a warehouse fire literally within a few feet of safety in Worcester, MA. Ø 9/11/01: A disaster of far greater magnitude, with some deaths in circumstances similar to the Worcester warehouse fire ØNFPA: lost/trapped 3 rd ranking cause of fatalities ØCurrent emergency responder escape technology: § Audio alarms which sound with lack of motion § Homing devices (Ultrasonic, RF) becoming available 2

WPI PPL Goal Ø A location and tracking system which § displays locations, paths, and landmarks (exits, etc. ) § for multiple responders § in 3 dimensions, § requiring no pre-installed infrastructure § and minimal setup Ø Must be transparent to users 3

The PPL Team (Past and Present) Research Assoc/Assistants Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Jack Coyne* Hauke Daempfling Jason Farmer* Jason Huang* Shashank Kulkarni* Hemish Parikh* Ben Woodacre Vincent Amendolare David Holl* Vivek Varshney Jorge Alejandro Tahsin Hassan* Ishrak Khair* Tanvir Madan* David Hubelbank* Matt Campbell Michael Moukarzel Faculty Ø David Cyganski Ø R. James Duckworth Ø Sergey Makarov Ø William Michalson Ø John Orr Technician Ø Bob Boisse 4

System Overview Personnel Unit Reference units Commander Display 5

System Requirements ØFundamental capabilities: § 3 -D location of each user relative to a chosen reference point § Relative locations among users § Graphical display at the incident command center § Graphical path information on all users ØAccuracy: +/- 1 ft ØRange: 2000 ft ØNumber of simultaneous users: 100 ØFuture enhancements: § Physiological information telemetry § Integration with stored databases: geographic and structural 6

Locator Operational/Physical Specs Ø New Transmit ranging signal/Technology § Up to 150 MHz spectrally friendly bandwidth • programmable waveform Ø Ø Support 100 locators Updates each second Low power, long battery life, automatic on/off Monitor and report environmental status data § Temperature, movement, diagnostics Ø Provide distress button Ø Small size, lightweight Ø Provide support for Physiological data 7

Prototype Mobile Locator Hardware Accelerometer Temp. Sensor Distress Button Microprocessor Interface to RF Hardware RF Data Channels Heart Rate Monitor PC Interface Distress Button Temperature Sensor Accelerometer Microprocessor RF Hardware Interface Transceiver Module 8

Custom FPGA based Software Radios RF Front End board Analog to Digital board FPGA Digital Controller board 9

Antenna Design and Testing Several innovations have been introduced in small, wideband, near-omni directional, multi-polarization patch and base antennas Concept for vehicle mounted base antennas Patch Antennas 10

2005: Outdoor 2 D TDOA results Our new multicarrier (MC) signal structure and processing approach theoretically provides high accuracy ranging data with low bandwidth and spectral flexibility Outdoor tests proved that our approach could achieve high precision results with low bandwidth Classic TDOA radio location algorithms were applied to ranging data 11

But Indoors is not like Outdoors Steel building structure Metal ceiling and floor decks Every metal structure bounces generates a multipath component By April ’ 06 we repeatedly demonstrated that the MC/classic method of radio signal and contributes another solution confusing location could not cope with high multipath indoor propagation problems 12

New end-to-end method developed By June 2006 a new approach to radio location that uses the multi-carrier signal structure but abandons any classic component of radio location was created. Just in time for WPI’s PPL Workshop Demo! 13

First Annual Technology Workshop Precision Indoor Personnel Location and Tracking for Emergency Responders August 7 -8, 2006, WPI Featured Demos by many of the participants First Public Demonstration of WPI PPL Technology 14

Through-wall/High Multipath Demo Antennas on 3 sides WPI Civil Eng. Building – poor geometry Antennas facing directly into brick walls No system training information or pre-sited devices 15

Kaven Hall Geology lab test site 2006 Live Demo site was WPI Civil Eng. Geology Lab. Steel Frame and concrete block construction with heavy equipment and metal cabinets. 2006 test achieved 1 m average abs. error using 30 MHz signal. 16

Spring 2007: Improved Signal Processing • 60 MHz BW • Mean Error: 0. 37 m Blue squares show actual locations Red arrows point to locator estimates 17

3 D Residential Building - Tests Ø 16 by 14 m coverage 18

New band - 150 MHz BW/3 D antennas 1 st floor error: 0. 72 m 2 nd floor error: 0. 3 m 19

2 nd Annual WPI PPL Workshop - 2007 Ø Over 100 attendees Ø Presentations, demos, working sessions Ø 3 D WPI Demo 20

2007 Demo: 3 D Real-Time User Tracking Ø Walk/Crawl through 1 st and 2 nd floors of the WPI Religious Center WPI Locator 21

Real Time Tracking/Physiological Display Locator position display with color ID Environmental temp and heart rate Locator height display Locator motion track with Kalman filter 22

DHS/FEMA July 2007 – June 2008 Ø Fire Prevention and Safety Award: “Integrated Firefighter Locator and Physiological Monitor” Ø 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 Ø Partnership: § WPI – Location/Tracking/Integration § Foster Miller – Physiological Monitoring § Globe Manufacturing – Mfg of fire suits § Worcester Fire Department 23

Physiological Status Monitoring (PSM) System Ø Ø 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 24

Physiological Testing – PSM Ø Testing to confirm PSM data agreement with portable capnography and pulse oximetry systems Ø Subjects tested in FF gear mimicking FF activities WPI Locator Ø New short-range radio to wirelessly transfer physiological information from vest to locator Capnograph 25

Physiological Testing – Pulse Ox Ø Wireless pulse-ox device developed at WPI Ø Development support by USAMRMC grant Ø WFD requested addition of pulse ox so we can monitor oxygen saturation levels 26

New Locator/Health Status Display 27

2008 PPL Workshop Demo in Atwater Kent: Harsh Indoor RF Environment! Ø Metal ceiling Ø Metal benches and cabinets Ø Mesh Windows Ø Metal backed black/white boards Ø Fire Doors Ø Metal studded walls – 16 inch spacing! 28

PPL Workshop 2008: Demo Day Ø WPI PPL and other PPL systems demonstrated Ø Firefighters attribute WPI system with reducing search time to a single mission (one air supply) 29

Currently Funded Projects Ø Testing and Evaluation of First Responder Indoor Location Technology § U. S. Army (NSRDEC)/DHS Ø Micro-Beacon Tracking of Autonomous Systems (MTAS) § Honeywell Aerospace Ø Microlight Indoor Positioning § Raytheon Company 30

WPI Precision Personnel Locator Ø Thank you! § David Cyganski, cyganski@wpi. edu § R. James Duckworth, rjduck@wpi. edu § Vincent Amendolare, vamend@wpi. edu www. ece. wpi. edu/Research/PPL/ 31