SIXTHSENSE beta field trials in mountain rescue scenario

7th to 10th of March 2023, Kopaonik, Serbia

After addressing key issues in the Beta prototype identified during the Postojna field trials, the system was once more deployed in the realistic conditions of first responder operations.

The consortium gathered at the Kopaonik mountain, hosted by the Serbian Mountain Rescuers (SMR), to test the system in the conditions of winter rescue scenario.

 

Over 40 researchers, developers and practitioners from 10 different organizations came to the event. In total 17 first responders from Mountain Rescue Service of Serbia the Association of Mountain Rescue Organizations of B&H took part in the tests which were performed in 4 sessions.

Similarly to the tests performed with the firefighters, the activity was organized in a circuit with 4 exercises relevant to the mountain rescuers:

1:Vertical rope climb

2: Uphill march

3. Avalanche victim excavation

4. Ski lift evacuation

The SIXTHSENSE Beta prototype in the full communication chain was tested with 6 electrotactile messages adapted to the requirements of the mountain rescue first responders.

For the very first time the SIXTHSENSE electrotactile communication system was fully functional in the harsh conditions of the field trials.

Over 400 individual messages were received by the first responders over the course of the trials.

After only minutes of training to use the electrotactile communication system and in spite of highly intensive physical activities, the overall message recognition success rate was over 70%, with some subjects having over 90% scores.

In addition to testing the electrotactile communications and gathering the physiological data during these activities, the cognitive load and effects of fatigue on the decision making process were assessed in tests designed and administered by the researchers from JRD.

Finally, the first version of a SIXTHSENSE garment developed based on the GAMMA specifications was presented to the consortium members and tested with the first responders to gather their impressions and suggestions.

SIXTHSENSE stakeholder workshop at NRT2022

November 15th – 16th 2022, Larnaca, Cyprus

Beta stakeholder meeting took place on the first day of the Nikosia Risk Forum 2022 in the main lecture hall.

The aim of the workshop was to disseminate and publicize the project and the knowledge progress achieved, and the technological improvements incorporated into system prototypes.

The workshop agenda had been structured in the following sections:

o  15:00 – 15:30: Project presentation (project concept, methodology, technologies and field trials).                     

o  15:30 – 16:00: Demonstration of Beta prototype. The vest prototype was shown and demonstration videos were played to show how the prototype functions in real scenarios. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVEvi_QHcQ).

o  16:00 – 16:30: Project exploitation plan and business model.

o  16:30 – 17:00: Open discussion & Survey.

 

The Project had a booth in the main hall of the venue throughout the congress. System prototypes and materials with project information were displayed here allow the visitors to have a closer look at the technology, discuss the project with the consortium representatives and get more engaged.

This enabled dissemination of the project results to more potential stakeholders that might not have attended to the special event.

 

Due to the importance of the forum, various media attended to cover the congress and the SIXTHSENSE coordinator was interviewed by Euronews as it can be seen at 7:54 min of the news.

Field Trials in fire fighting scenario – Postojna, Slovenia​

From 7th to  9th November of 2022 the SIXTHSENSE consortium gathered in the impressive facilities of the Postojna firefighters to test the Beta prototype in the field. Over 50 practitioners, technology developers and researchers took part in the three day event.

The consortium took the opportunity of a physical meetup to arrange a number of co-development sessions between the practitioners and the technology developers. Most of the WPs were addressed, discussing open questions and presenting potential solutions to the experienced fire fighters to gain their perspective on the potential issues.

Fifteen firefighters took part in the full testing protocol going over an exercise circuit designed by the experts from ULE to produce high physiological strain in a controlled manner. 

In addition to gathering the physiological data during these activities, the cognitive load and effects of fatigue on the decision making process were assessed in tests designed and administered by the researchers from JRD.

The SIXTHSENSE Beta prototype with the full communication chain was tested for the first time in the relevant conditions.

 It has 5 distinct communication links, as shown in the figure below:

1.     Exchange between the command center dashboard and the online data warehouse

2.     Exchange between the online data warehouse and the mobile device (MOTOTRBO Ion)

3.     Exchange between the mobile device and the team leader’s BACQ (BLE connection)

4.     Exchange between the team leader’s BACQ and each team member’s BACQ (proprietary radio)

5.     Exchange between the BACQ and BetaStim of one first responder (BLE)

The communication loop was completed with the SIXTHSENSE electrotactile messaging, designed for the fire fighters. Six different messages were implemented based on earlier research results and requirements gathered in the WP7 co-development sessions.

While the electrotactile communication was tested with firefighters in Rijeka, and with mountain rescuers in Belgrade and Kopaonik, this  was the first time that it was tested while they were performing functional tasks and withing the full communication chain.

Illustration of the six dynamic stimulation patterns. Numbers signify the activation order.
Pads with the same number are activated at the same time. Red-colored pads are activated
with a high frequency and green with a low.   

 

 

Pilot testing of Beta prototype for electrotactile stimulation in relevant conditions for mountain rescue scenarios of interest

From March 24th until March 28th the pilot testing of Beta prototype for electrotactile stimulation was tested in Kopaonik, the biggest mountain resort in Serbia.

The aim was to test the electrotactile communication protocols defined in D7.8 with the Beta prototype electrode defined in D7.6 in relevant winter conditions.

Ten participants took part in the endeavour which comprised skiing in crowded tracks and uphill walking during the day and at night.

The results clearly indicate that the approach is feasible and does not pose a significant distraction in performing these activities.

A foreign mission and a SIXTHSENSE use-case scenario

While some of us were spending our vacation during hot August days enjoying the sea view, in the late night of August 4th to August 5th a foreign KHD mission in Northern Macedonia was alerted, and a team of Lower Austrian Forest Fire specialists and other comrades (including members of FF Gumpoldskirchen and ELFR, as well as additional teams from Slovenia and Bulgaria) was assembled.

While the response team drove for nearly 1500 km, the necessary equipment and logistics followed along by train. After 30 hours of strenuous travelling, it was time to put the response team under even more strain in the area where almost 3000 hectares of forest and meadows was in flames or burned down, due to a long period of drought (40-45˚C). Whole villages were threatened by the fire. 


During 10 days of the deployment, Austrian firefighters had to work through a wide spectrum of scenarios, many of which provide valuable insight into the use-cases that are covered by the SIXTHSENSE project. Despite the constantly changing conditions and difficult challenges they’ve faced, the first responders managed to subdue the fire and prevent it from spreading further. This mission’s response team should be applauded – as it was while passing through North Macedonia and Serbia, on its way home.

https://fb.watch/888Jl4lMbI/ (Mission video on Facebook)

Imagine that the mission time was cut down in half… Or better yet, that fewer first responders had to suffer the strain caused by these kinds of missions? It could be done with increased first responder efficiency, by allowing them to communicate better– even when a team member is flown by the helicopter to remote areas. Increased awareness of their physical state could help first responders react in time if some of them are in danger, and make sure their mission time is efficiently used, therefore decreasing the need for additional deployment of their colleagues, and them, as well.

The work done during the North Macedonican mission is outstanding. In the midst of raging fires like these, one thing is clear – we need to take care of first responders. SIXTHSENSE has a purpose to do just that – it aims to improve overall communication, their awareness, and keep them safe. If this is not a call to action and an opportunity to put SIXTHSENSE to  good use, what is

Alpha prototype overview

In the next video, you can see the overview of the phases that the alpha prototype passed through – choosing optimal placement of the electrode, as well as the electrode design, defining initial electrotactile coding schemes, technical validation of the system, testing the system on human subjects, obtaining end-user feedback and last, but not least, deploying the system in a relevant environment, on Kopaonik mountain at an event hosted by Serbian Mountain Rescue service, on which you can read more about here.

Enjoy!

Alpha prototype field trials

End of June 2021 marked a major milestone in the SIXTHSENSE project. The alpha prototypes were tested in the field trials with several first responder groups in the Šapjane training centre of the Primorje and Gorski Kotar Fire Department.

The consortium took full advantage of having first responders from three fire brigades and one mountain rescue service available and simultaneously ran multiple testing stations.


The firemen from Rijeka Fire brigade – Croatia (PGZ), Postojna fire brigade – Slovenia (GDP) and Gumpoldskirchen fire brigade – Austria (FFG) “competed” in a four-station testing circuit designed to simulate real conditions of wildland firefighting, under the scorching Rijeka Sun, at around 35oC. 

They were equipped with both SIXTHSENSE Alpha prototype sensing devices, as well as the state-of-the-art systems for benchmarking, and performed intensive exercises to reach high level of physiological strain. Collected data was wirelessly transmitted to the base station located in the near-by command centre and then stored to the SIXTHSENSE online data warehouse. 

These tests were managed by experts from ULE, with technical support from partners that developed the sensing (TECSR) and recording (GES) systems. In between these sessions, the firefighters did extensive psychological testing, administered by JR to determine the cognitive load and correlation between fatigue and first responders’ decision making capabilities.

In parallel, researchers from TECSR performed a psychometric study investigating different message coding modalities for communication of mission critical information through electrotactile feedback. MRB took part in these tests alongside the firefighters. 

Between these tests and the pilot with SMR in Kopaonik, all SIXTHSENSE first responders have experienced the electrotactile stimulation and provided their valuable feedback.

 

As the tests were progressing and the data streamed to the offices, multiple technical meetings were held between the technology provider partners. Notably, partners from WP7 took advantage of being together with multiple commanding officers from different organisations to hold a co-development workshop on the command centre dashboard, being developed by TG

Coordinator (TEC) organised a series of bilateral meetings discussing the possible avenues for pursuing the project to policy ambitions of the SIXTHSENSE consortium. The information gathered greatly clarified the potential of each partner and will allow creating a realistic roadmap for future implementation of project results

Due to the strange circumstances under which the project started this was the first in-person meeting between a larger number of partners. While the tests conducted are very important and will greatly benefit the technical advancement within the project, the shared experiences are invaluable.

We may need to wait for scientific results of the tests, as data processing and analysis will take time and effort. However, one outcome was immediately evident, the Rijeka fire brigade passed the test of hospitality with flying colours. Part of the great atmosphere can be seen by following this link to GDP’s website gallery.

 

Between the expertise of the firefighting instructors and the excellent facilities of the Šapjane training centre, it is clear that there is a huge potential for co-development of first responder technologies both within and beyond the scope of the SIXTHSENSE project. 

Testing the physiological strain Alpha model

ES

As one of the first milestones of the WP6, preliminary predictive model to assess the first responders’ strain was proposed. This Alpha version is based on the exiting models, modified to consider the main physiological variables that will be integrated into the SIXTHSENSE system for the Alpha prototype.

In the first months of 2021, the proposed physiological strain Alpha model was tested through a set of pilot laboratory tests at University of Leon, Spain (ULE), in collaboration with the group from Joanneum Research, Austria (JR).

The main aim in these pilot tests was to explore the performance of the proposed model for tracking the physiological strain. The sports science department of the University of Leon (VALFIS Research Group) led the effort in the pilot trials as the project partner with extensive experience in both collaborative work with first responders and health-related physical fitness and performance assessment.

scientist in a laboratory
Working atmosphere during the pilot tests in ULE’s laboratory.

Participants of the experiment performed predefined physical exercises in ULE’s laboratory, where environmental conditions (humidity, temperature, etc.) were controlled. During the experiment they wore wildland firefighters’ personal protection equipment (weighing almost 6 kg) over the equipment needed to acquire physiological parameters.


The exercises were specifically designed and rigorously administered to elicit specific levels of physiological strain, allowing the system to record the physical responses of interest for the SIXTHSENSE research.

ULElaboratory2
Physiological parameter acquisition equipment placement (left) and a participant during an exercise (right).

In addition, the pilot tests have proven the feasibility of combining this protocol with the psychological and cognitive assessment designed by JR. This is a major step towards achieving the experimental study designs where physiological and psychological aspects can be jointly explored.

ULElaboratory3
Participant performing JR’s psychological and cognitive tests.

Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while following the recommended precautions, the main model-testing protocol was established and verified. These results bring us closer to the Alpha demonstrator field testing.
To be continued in Rijeka, Croatia…

ES

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