Concept

Crisis incidents result in difficult working conditions for Urban Search-and-Rescue (USaR) crews. INACHUS aims to achieve a significant time reduction related to Urban Search and Rescue (USaR) phase by providing wide-area situation awareness solutions for improved detection and localisation of the trapped victims assisted by simulation tools for predicting structural failures and a holistic decision support mechanism incorporating operational procedures and resources of relevant actors.

In more details, ,INACHUS aims to provide the following tools and technologies:

Expected Impact

Reduced rescue response time

INACHUS will provide a robust, resilient and secure platform for the provision of specialised ad-hoc services, facilities and support for first responders that operate at crises scenes. The platform includes the development of ad-hoc IT and communications subsystems for FRs to be carried in the field of operations.

What is of particular importance is the fact that accompanying sub-systems will be deployable and operational within a short time after a given disaster. The rapid and effective set-up of the INACHUS platform will enhance the operational capacity of the first responders and rescue crews.

The increased effectiveness of FR operations through the employment of INACHUS leads to:

Increased situation awareness
Fast response of the communication infrastructure (e.g. priority services and QoS)
Increased communications coverage with ad-hoc networking capabilities,

Overall, these enhancements will fend for the reduction of injury and loss of life of the FRs and ultimately civilians by gaining faster, more accurate and safer localisation information and supporting guidance information.

The various components of the INACHUS framework will work in close cohesion and an interoperable manner to provide an innovative end-solution for assisting first responders in rapidly locating disaster victims inside collapsed structures. Specifically, the INACHUS simulation and visualisations methods will provide accurate prediction models of collapsed structures allowing the best assessment of survival spaces, and the determination of rescue routes for fast access to survivors and their safe extraction. These will be addressed in WP3 and WP4. Furthermore, the innovative sensing elements developed within the context of WP5 will determine the maximum likelihood of surviving humans using a combination of elements, such as radar, chemical sensing, vibrometry, motion detection, IR cameras, and mobile phone detection. Easier access to the survivor locations will be achieved by the snake robot. Finally, the intelligent processing – as conducted within WP6 – of the diverse information coming from these components will provide the highest probability of the location of actual surviving victims, leading to improved abilities for their rescue.

Improved ability in rescuing people from collapsed buildings

Improved planning of rescue operations

INACHUS platform includes the development of adhoc IT and communications sub-systems for FRs’ Units, considered as Personal Area Network of Sensors and Systems carried by FRs in the field of operations. The seamless combination of human-controlled and unmanned solutions navigation in outdoor and indoor scenarios will help greatly in the increase of the operational efficiency of personnel on the field, while safeguarding their well-being. The latter will be achieved through the provision of a robust Situational Awareness mechanism that will allow decision makers at both strategic and tactical levels to make well-informed decisions.