16 July 2009

Eye in the sky means safety on ground

A new localization system can connect satellite-based positioning systems with terrestrial locating aids and situation-dependent sensory systems, which can keep rescue units better protected and located during disaster operations.

Rescue workers face various dangers during their missions: Poisonous, harmful gases, blocked escape routes, and the threat of buildings collapsing. So, the head of the operation needs to know where the people are at all times.

Right now, experts rely on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)—which, in addition to GPS, include Europe’s Galileo and the Russian GLONASS—to help them locate rescue units and all the necessary rescue equipment und devices. Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology scientists have set up a Galileo Lab in which new GNSS-based localization technologies are in development.

Researchers there use the satellite navigation system Galileo, which, in contrast to GPS, is not under military control. This way, it is possible to implement special services for civil applications. In the Fraunhofer Galileo Lab, researchers from nine Fraunhofer Institutes, together with the Fraunhofer Traffic and Transportation Alliance, are working on locating people and goods in industry, commerce, transportation, and mobility.

“When analyzing various target groups such as logistics, travel assistance, or security services, it quickly becomes clear that the tasks of the system architecture are similar,” said Project Manager Werner Schönewolf from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK.

“Similar structures and contents are always required on similar terminals—for instance, data on where a person is located; sensors, which indicate specific values such as the concentration of harmful gas; or terminals, which act as clients,” Schönewolf said. “It is our goal to offer a universal software architecture, which allows application profiles to be configured like in a modular construction system.”

A person traveling by train in the future could get direction to the right connecting train at a railway station via cell phone or PDA without having to explicitly operate the device. “This is possible through context recognition in the mobile device. We connect the travel plan details with the positioning system, allowing people to navigate to the correct train through even the most complex train stations,” Schönewolf said. “In the event of an emergency, we link the location with harmful-gas sensors and can detect dangers at an early stage.”

The experts not only use the Galileo data, but are also testing combined receivers for various satellite systems because the most precise navigation and the highest positioning accuracy in cities and canyons can occur using the collective data of all the satellites in the sky.

For related information, go to www.isa.org/sensors.