Next-generation equipment tools and mission-critical strategies for First Responders

With the evolving threat of climate change and the consequences of industrial accidents to becoming more severe, there is an increasing need for First Responders to access reliable and agile information management systems that offer as higher Situational Awareness and better Common Operational Picture. To match with current trends, the RESPOND- A project aims at developing holistic and easy-to-use solutions for First Responders by bringing together the complementary strengths of its Investigators in 5G wireless communications, Augmented and Virtual Reality, autonomous robot and unmanned aerial vehicle coordination, intelligent wearable sensors and smart monitoring, geovisual analytics and immersive geospatial data analysis, passive and active localisation and tracking, and interactive multi-view 360 video streaming. The synergy of such cutting-edge technological advancements is likely to provide high- end and continuous flows of data, voice and video information to First Responders and their Command & Control Centres for predicting and assessing the various incidents readily and reliably, and saving lives more efficiently and effectively, while maximising the safeguarding of themselves, before, during and after disasters.

The main role of Vicomtech in the project is to lead one work package (WP5: Common operating picture through AR and MCX) and to contribute actively on tasks regarding data format fusion and source management as well as command and control application developments. Besides that, Vicomtech will also participate in requirements, use cases and architecture design; pilots validation and evaluation; as well as results and dissemination / communication of the project outcomes.

Some of the key technologies that Vicomtech will develop during the project are applied computer vision for person and object recognition, augmented reality, and media service creation, adaptation and publishing on every device.

Project Information: Grant Agreement No: 883371, EU Contribution: 356 300.00€