ESS

Emergency Support System

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The Emergency Support System (ESS) is a suite of real-time data-centric technologies which will provide actionable information to crisis managers during abnormal events. This information will enable improved control and management, resulting in real time synchronization between forces on the ground (police, rescue, firefighters) and out-of-theater command and control centers (C&C). The approach guiding the ESS project is based on the fusion of variable forms of field-derived data within a central system which will then provide information analysis and decision support applications at designated C&C locations. To do this, ESS will achieve the following objectives: i) Improvement of front end data collection technologies (radioactivity, bio-chemical, audio-video, etc.) installed both on portable and fixed platforms, providing a flexible yet comprehensive coverage of the affected area; ii) this data will then be fused and analyzed to provide real-time decision support; iii) ESS will make these resources readily available to commanders through the use of easily accessible web-portals. Thus, ESS will minimize the uncertainty that characterizes crisis events, thereby limiting their scope. The ESS will then be field tested at three different scenarios, including a stadium evacuation, a forest fire and toxic waste dump accidents. The ESS consortium consists of 19 partners that will bring together a wide spectrum of European SME’s, industrial and academic partners from a variety of fields, ranging from sensor design and electronic communications to civil protection. The resulting cooperation will help provide an added measure of security to European citizens. Crisis situations are characterized by partial information according to which commanders need to make life and death decisions. By helping decision makers make decisions based on better and more complete data, ESS will help limit the scope of crises, ultimately saving precious lives.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

In a world of many natural and man-made disasters, better coordination and communication of emergency response teams will help manage and overcome crises much more efficiently.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

From forest fires and severe floods to industrial mishaps and terrorist acts, emergency services must act rapidly to protect people and infrastructure. Often, collaboration between on-site rescuers and off-site crisis managers is not at its best when every minute counts to save lives and safeguard assets.

Against this backdrop, the EU-funded project 'Emergency support system' (ESS) worked to finalise a set of real-time technologies to communicate critical emergency information to crisis managers much more efficiently. To achieve its aims, the project is bringing together 19 partners from different fields, including academia, industry, civil protection and technology companies.

The proposed technology solution enhances synchronisation between ground forces (e.g. police, firefighters) with command and control centres. This is done by fusing different field data to provide information analysis and decision support. Specifically, the developed technology improves front-end collection of data such as audio, video, radioactivity levels and biochemical parameters. It then combines and analyses the data to enhance decision support and transmit it to command centres through web-based means, minimising uncertainty in crisis events.

ESS' technology suite is being tested in different environments, namely in a forest fire, a toxic waste accident and in the evacuation of a stadium.

The various completed project components include the data collection tool, data fusion system, ESS portal and PDA application. The project team has already tested the system and its sensors in the field, in addition to disseminating its results through workshops, conferences and publications.

Overall, the work accomplished has the potential to revolutionise crisis management practices, superseding outmoded mechanisms of communication between different parties.

Thanks to better coordination of emergency services and improved emergency force preparedness, duplication will be minimised. In addition, police, firefighters and medical emergency teams will share intelligence much more efficiently. ESS results offer the potential for enhanced public alert systems, better crisis recovery and a reduction in costs associated with disasters.