The continued trend for sensors and devices equipped with them such, as smartphones, to become smaller, cheaper, and more powerful, enables a whole range of new applications. Part of Sebastian’s work focuses on using these technologies to improve the safety and effectiveness of emergency first responders. First response teams, such as a typical search-and-rescue team made up of two firefighters, spend a lot of time communicating with their squad leader via (noisy) radio: how and where they are, what they see, and what they intent to do next. This costs precious time, and delays their arrival at the location, which might be a person in urgent need of assistance. Sebastian and the team are building a system that tracks the location and status of each firefighter using a combination of sensors, smartphones, and machine learning, and visualises that information for the officers and squad leaders in the Command & Control Centre. They hope this will reduce the time used for coordination, and help first responders carry their work out more efficiently.
