By Derek Rosenfeld
Among the many highlights of FDIC International 2018, the focus on "Emerging Technologies" is certainly near the top of the list. From drones to robot-assisted emergency response to "smart cities," several workshops and classroom sessions during the week are being devoted to the many attention-grabbing advancements that will go a long way to aiding the world of firefighting and, hopefully, saving lives that would not have been saved in the past.
Included on this list of the most important technological enhancements coming to firefighting is augmented reality (AR). Presented by ARCortex CEO Yohan Baillot during Wednesday morning classroom sessions, "Augmented Reality for Firefighters" took an indepth look at this increasingly relevant visualization solution for first responders that allows them unsurpassed new avenues for situational awareness and training.
"I was exposed to AR in 1995 when I came to the U.S. from France as an exchange student at UNC—Chapel Hill. I decided that it was going to change the world, and so I made it the focus of my career," Baillot said. "Today, this happening; just search the term 'AR' if you are not convinced. I am not a teacher but a consultant and team leader in AR development, but I have expertise and lessons learned, which I hope will resonate with the crowd."
In this segment of his presentation, Baillot explains the hardware details of AR for vehicle systems:
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"There are several uses for AR that make sense for firefighting—to improve situational awareness, to find a direction quickly, to know where everyone is, to see the invisible, and to help with maintenance and training. And the cost of AR hardware has dramatically fallen due to its emergence in the consumer world."
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In this next segment, Baillot explains how the use of "blue force tracking," a GPS-enabled military system that provides location information about friendly or hostile military forces, is incorporated into augmented reality systems.
Baillot continued, "[Fire companies] should work with equipment companies to request this technology, which in turn would provide the tech transfer from prototype and R&D [research and development] to actual products that can be used. Government and fire department funding cannot pay for that alone; this is where things have been locked for more than a decade regarding the use of these tech."
In this segment, In this segment of his presentation, Baillot shows a video presentation of the actual integrated management technology first responders can use to track and locate people of interest.
On this being his first ever FDIC International experience, Baillot concluded, "I am most looking forward to meeting decision makers and large companies that might want to introduce AR with their offerings. I am Interested to learn more about the requirements, lesson l