Ubiquitous%20Computing%20%20%20for%20Firefighters

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Ubiquitous Computing for Firefighters Field
Studies and Prototypes of Large Displays
for Incident Command
Xiaodong Jiang Jason Hong UC Berkeley UC
Berkeley Leila Takayama James
Landay Stanford University
University of Washington
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Research Motivation

• Fires cause great harm
• 4000 deaths, 25000 injuries
• 100 firefighter deaths / year
• 9 billion in property losses / year
• Information intensive task
• Firefighting is making a lot of decisions on
  very little information
• Advances in ubicomp technologies
• Sensors, wireless network, devices
• Location, identity, temperature, humidity

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Research Overview

• Problem How to design sensor-rich systems?
• What kinds of info are needed?
• Who needs to know about it?
• How to present and use it?
• Approach
• Four-month field study with firefighters
• Three iterations of prototypes of large display
• Help advance the state of art in HCI
• Visualization, multimodal interfaces
• Less stressful domains (e.g. computing while
  driving)

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Focus on Incident Commander

• Person in overall control is the Incident
  Commander
• Manages people and resources
• Gathers and analyzes information
• Develops overall response strategy

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Field Studies

• Method
• 4 months, 3 fire depts
• Observed and interviewed in work environment
• 1 field exercise
• 2 emergency calls
• Participants
• 1 assistant chief
• 4 battalion chiefs
• 2 captains, 2 engineers
• 5 firefighters

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Dangers

• Flashovers
• Backdrafts
• Hidden fires
• Structural collapse
• Personal hazards
• Getting disoriented
• Running out of air
• Extreme exhaustion

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Accountability
WORK PROCESS

• Goal
• Safety of resources personnel
• Notification of imminent dangers
• Some approaches
• Passports
• Incident Command System
• Problems
• Difficult to get info
• Situations change quickly

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Assessment
WORK PROCESS

• Goal Sizing up the situation correctly
• Scope of fire, hidden fires, floorplans, dangers
• Some approaches
• Collection of info beforehand (ex. floorplans)
• Annual inspections
• Firefighters sent in to the structure report by
  radio
• Problems
• Data out of date
• Difficult to find right info
• Difficult to understand

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Communication ICs
WORK PROCESS

• Goal Coordinating responders
• Some approaches
• Face-to-face
• Radio communication
• Cell phones
• Problems
• Radio dead zones
• Noise intensity
• Congestion

Im usually listening to at least three
radios Its tough, and then youve got people
calling on the cell phone at the same time.
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Communication - Firefighters
WORK PROCESS
There is a lot of noise on the fire ground.
Youre inside the fire is burning it makes
noise theres breaking glass theres chain saws
above your head where theyre cutting a hole in
the roof theres other rigs coming in with
sirens blaring lots of radio traffic everybody
trying to radio at the same time.
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Use of New Technologies
WORK PROCESS

• Thermal Imaging Cameras
• PASS System

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From Field to Design

• Accountability, assessment
• Focus on incident commanders
• 3 evolving prototypes
• Existing work practice
• Information organization
• Communication
• Focus on firefighters
• Abandon button
• Messaging application

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RESOURCE
LOCATION
TASK
En route
Division 1
Fire Attack
Unassigned
Division 2
ETA 5 min
RIT
Staging
Division A
Search and Rescue
Division B
Ventilation
Division C
Utility Shut Off
Division D
Other
Other
Other
Situation Size-up
Division 1
Assigned
On task 10 min 11 sec
Complete
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RESOURCE
LOCATION
TASK
En route
Division 1
Fire Attack
Unassigned
Division 2
ETA 4 min
RIT
Staging
Division A
Search and Rescue
Division B
Ventilation
Division C
Utility Shut Off
Division D
Other
Other
Other
Situation Size-up
Division 1
Assigned
On task 10 min 11 sec
Complete
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RESOURCE
LOCATION
TASK
En route
Division 1
Fire Attack
Unassigned
Division 2
ETA 2 min
RIT
Staging
Division A
Search and Rescue
Division B
Ventilation
Division C
Utility Shut Off
Division D
Other
Other
Other
Situation Size-up
Division 1
Assigned
On task 12 min 40 sec
Complete
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RESOURCE
LOCATION
TASK
En route
Division 1
Fire Attack
Unassigned
Division 2
ETA 1 min
RIT
Staging
Division A
Search and Rescue
Division B
Ventilation
Division C
Utility Shut Off
Division D
Other
Other
Other
Situation Size-up
Division 1
Assigned
On task 15 min 1 sec
Complete
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RESOURCE
LOCATION
TASK
En route NONE
Division 1
Fire Attack
Staging
Unassigned
Division 2
RIT
Division A
Search and Rescue
Division B
Ventilation
Division C
Division D
Other
Other
Other
Division C
Utility Shut Off
Assigned
On task 0 min 0 sec
Situation Size-up
Division 1
On task 16 min 11 sec
Complete
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RESOURCE
LOCATION
TASK
En route NONE
Division 1
Fire Attack
Staging
Unassigned
Division 2
RIT
Division A
Search and Rescue
Division B
Ventilation
Division C
Division D
Other
Other
Other
Division C
Utility Shut Off
Assigned
On task 0 min 30 sec
Situation Size-up
Division 1
On task 16 min 30 sec
Complete
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Summary of Prototypes
Prototype Design Inspiration Information Organization
Military command post Map-based
Greaseboard used by ICs Role hierarchy of incident response
Incident Command System Conceptual model of tracking resource-task-location
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Communication
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Conclusion

• Four month of field study with firefighters
• Three iterations of prototypes of large display
  for incident commanders
• Messaging application for firefighters working
  inside urban structures

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Thanks to Berkeley Fire Department El Cerrito
Fire Department Alameda Fire Department NSF
ITR CITRIS Nick Chen

• Xiaodong Jiang
• Leila A. Takayama
• Jason I. Hong
• James A. Landay
• http//guir.berkeley.edu/siren