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Fighting Fires With RFID and Wireless Sensors
Still, he predicts, the end result will be worth it. Though declining to divulge client details, he says Telepathx has been getting calls about the TPX-VRF sensor from companies all over the world, including the United States, Canada, Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and China.
Meanwhile, another group has developed its own fire-detecting system. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed the FireBug, a GPS-enabled wireless sensor that gathers real-time data about approaching wildfires, as well as firefighter location and health data (such as carbon monoxide levels), then transmit that data via an RF transceiver containing a Chipcon mote. The researchers wrapped up the project last year, including a series of tests in controlled fires. UC Berkeley has filed for a patent for this system (see Fighting Fire With FireBugs).
The Berkeley researches say they hope to see the FireBug become a commercial product. "We'd like to see it commercialized, and are seeing investors or a company that's interested in that," says Nicholas Sitar, a professor at the university's department of civil and environmental engineering, and one of the FireBug researchers.
Sitar notes that the FireBug might have been beneficial to combating the deadly wildfire set by an arsonist on Oct. 26 in Cabazon, Calif. Stoked by winds, the fire swept southwest through the San Jacinto Mountains, killing five firefighters and destroying numerous homes and more than 60 square miles of land.
"While it wasn't a problem that firefighters couldn't see where the flames were, they just didn't have a good sense of the speed and intensity of the fire," says Sitar, nor could they see well through all the smoke. A network of FireBug sensors, he states, could have provided details that may have changed the way they approached fighting the blaze.
Meanwhile, another group has developed its own fire-detecting system. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed the FireBug, a GPS-enabled wireless sensor that gathers real-time data about approaching wildfires, as well as firefighter location and health data (such as carbon monoxide levels), then transmit that data via an RF transceiver containing a Chipcon mote. The researchers wrapped up the project last year, including a series of tests in controlled fires. UC Berkeley has filed for a patent for this system (see Fighting Fire With FireBugs).
The Berkeley researches say they hope to see the FireBug become a commercial product. "We'd like to see it commercialized, and are seeing investors or a company that's interested in that," says Nicholas Sitar, a professor at the university's department of civil and environmental engineering, and one of the FireBug researchers.
Sitar notes that the FireBug might have been beneficial to combating the deadly wildfire set by an arsonist on Oct. 26 in Cabazon, Calif. Stoked by winds, the fire swept southwest through the San Jacinto Mountains, killing five firefighters and destroying numerous homes and more than 60 square miles of land.
"While it wasn't a problem that firefighters couldn't see where the flames were, they just didn't have a good sense of the speed and intensity of the fire," says Sitar, nor could they see well through all the smoke. A network of FireBug sensors, he states, could have provided details that may have changed the way they approached fighting the blaze.
