The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently hosted a challenge to combine the Internet of Things (IoT) with Augmented Reality (AR) to aid first responders in day-to-day operations and emergencies.
The CHARIoT Challenge, held in September, invited developers to compete for $1.1 million in cash prizes to develop IoT solutions or AR interfaces that can be effectively implemented by first responders to leverage IoT-based sensor streams, a Dec. 21 U.S. Department of Commerce press release said.
IoT refers to the collection of all data-gathering systems connected to the internet, the release said. This includes things such as smartwatches, thermostats, and smart city systems. First responders are currently unable to utilize these data sources due to hardware limitations and an inability to visualize the data in the course of duty.
“First responders need to make fast decisions based on the best information they have available,” the release said. “Police, fire, and EMS crews usually rely on radio communication channels along with dispatch and eyewitness reports for that information. But this is the Internet Age. As data from the Internet of Things devices become more prevalent, public safety could use that data to save more lives.”
In an emergency, data from these devices could tell first responders the location of an individual in distress or warn them of traffic disruptions on the route to a medical emergency, the release said.
“Contestants designed solutions around four emergency scenarios: an active shooter, flooding, a mass transit accident and a wildfire, and for two different public safety perspectives: an incident commander and boots-on-the-ground first responder,” the release said. “The purpose of designing around these scenarios was to provide real-world context for situations that are not accounted for in commercial products.”
The CHARIoT event produced 11 finalists that submitted 35 prototypes for a final evaluation, the release said. “Two IoT finalists’ emulated data was incorporated in the challenge data set and then visualized by the final AR teams when designing their interfaces.”
