Drones Protect Firefighters – DRONELIFE

DAVID HOLT / CC BY-SA 

Drones are widely recognized as an indispensible tool in firefighting.  Now, researchers from George Mason University are working on a drone and wearable sensor solution that can locate each firefighter working in a burning building – and notify their team if they’re in trouble.

Drones equipped with thermal and RTK imaging solutions are used heavily in firefighting, providing scene commanders with situational awareness and important thermal data that can help identify hotspots or areas likely to reignite.   Aerial data can help with aspects of fire management like managing evacuations by understanding which roads are still accessible, distributing resources efficiently, and documenting the fire’s progress.

Now,Vijay Shah, an assistant professor in the Cyber Security Engineering Department in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University is working to develop a tool that will locate and protect firefighters while…