Proposed Solution

 

Our research group is currently of an international project for the monitorization of firefighters in action. One of the most relevant parameters to evaluate, since it leads more easily to death, is the concentration of potentially toxi gases, which is the aim of this thesis. Thus, we propose a major novelty on the gas monitorization and to the best of our knowledge we are involved in the single one project that provide an adaptable solution to the emergency scenario. As can be seen it is expected sending the gathered data to an interface device. Thus, both fireman and his/her chief can be aware in case of a dangerous situation.

In order to help the firefighter mobility, the proposed system is expected to be incorporated into a broader sensing solution, VitalHelmet: a box to be held on the firefighter helmet and that measures luminosity, humidity, temperature, altitude, atmospheric pressure, has GPS and camera. These measurements are of great importance because these environment variables can cause several injuries in a human being. For example, measure the luminosity and humidity are important types of information, since he is not always near to the team nor he is able to assess the in-situ conditions of the fire brigade. In some cases, the firefighter only realizes how high the temperature is when the helmet begins to melt. Thus, measure the temperature is crucial. On the other hand, high altitudes or low atmospheric pressure locations can be a serious risk to the firefighter’s team. Hence, it is of major importance be aware of these variables. The GPS and camera are essential to the chief realize where his team is and in what conditions they are working.
Having localized and extensive information of the environment conditions allow a better and personalized response to each firefighter, leading to lower levels of accidents and deaths. Furthermore, to develop a customizable and adaptable solution, a slave module was proposed, i.e., a module which has its owns processing and firmware. The gas monitorization is done in this module and then data is sent to the master. To be able to accept several types of gas sensors, each slave has its own microcontroller. Thus, we have local processing – in the sensor. The slave has to
integrate the signal during 15 minutes and 8 hours and, in case the gases’ concentration exceeds the legally  permissible limit, a condition alarm must be sent to the master.
The communication between the slave and master will be done through I2C.