Application per day: navigation in premises for firefighters
In March 2015, IBM, together with the Skolkovo Foundation and the Apps4All developer community, conducted a hackathon on developing mobile applications with a backend on the IBM Bluemix cloud platform. The winner was the Navigine firefighter navigation app.
115 developers submitted applications for participation in the hackathon, of which seven of the strongest teams were chosen. With the support of IBM mentors, teams made seven ready-made applications in 24 hours.
The IBM Bluemix cloud platform, which participants used to organize the backend, provides an opportunity to quickly deploy the execution environment for almost any language and connect the necessary services from an extensive list.
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The winner of the hackathon was the startup Navigine with the FireFighter application. This app is for navigating firefighters inside buildings.
Since 2011, Startup Navigine has been working on a platform for accurate indoor geolocation services - including navigation, marketing, and analysis of people's movements. The company's main solutions are: Navigine Indoor (navigation inside the building), Navigine Marketing (geo-location notifications in applications) and Navigine Analytics (analytics of movements inside the building).
The technological core of Navigine, based on joint processing of Wi-Fi / Bluetooth LE signals and measurements from internal sensors of smartphones, as well as the use of SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Mapping) technology, allows to achieve meter positioning accuracy inside the premises. The key know-how is the joint processing algorithms for measurements from disparate sensors, on which the startup has been working for more than three years. Algorithms allow you to effectively filter the noise of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals and complement these signals with data from gyroscopes, accelerometers and a magnetometer.
Sample screens of the Navigine application for airports
During the hackathon, ready-made solutions needed to be adapted to new goals: the application should help the firefighters to navigate inside the premises. The developers used the Navigine Autonomous solution, based on the Inertial Measurement Unit, an inertial measurement module. The module includes a set of sensors - gyroscopes, accelerometers and a magnetometer. The module is attached to the foot and allows you to calculate the length and direction of a person’s step. Knowing the initial coordinate of the module and integrating the information about the steps using special PDR (Pedestrian Dead Reckoning) algorithms, you can get the exact location of a person at any time. All calculations occur locally on the microcontroller that is on board the IMU.
The building does not need to be prepared for navigation, there is no need to install additional equipment - it will not necessarily be a shopping center that uses BLE beacons or Wi-Fi access points. This is critically important because it is impossible to prepare in advance for a fire until such navigation is provided by lawmakers. In addition, any infrastructure can be destroyed by fire.
The accuracy of FireFighter will be less than 1% of the distance traveled, that is, about a meter for every hundred meters passed by a firefighter. The module determines the coordinates with a frequency of up to three times per second. The coordinates from the device are transferred to the fireman’s smartphone or any other Bluetooth-compatible device, from where it is transmitted over any available communication channel - for example, 4G.
IBM Bluemix is a cloud-based platform for developing and deploying web, mobile, and integration applications based on Cloud Foundry, Dockers, and Open Stack open technologies. The platform provides the ability to develop software code in various languages, and also provides a wide range of off-the-shelf software components (services) that a developer can integrate into his application.
Before working with Bluemix, the Navigine team had experience with Amazon Cloud, SAP HANA Cloud Platform and Windows Azure cloud solutions. Bluemix interfaces have a number of advantages, including specific services that are not found on other platforms: for example, IBM Watson , equipped with a question-answer artificial intelligence system. Also on the Bluemix platform, it is possible to use git to transfer changes and start services.
According to Navigine director Alexey Panov, IBM Bluemix is a convenient cloud platform for deploying such solutions.
The team made two backend applications to share responsibilities between developers in a limited time environment. For communication between applications, we developed an API based on Web Socket.
Startup Navigine will develop the FireFighter solution and first of all will offer it for the work of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other special purpose services. Now active work is being carried out in the framework of a joint venture with NP GLONASS. One of the areas where the FireFighter system can be applied is the quality control of cellular network coverage inside buildings, which may be of interest to cellular companies and companies involved in measuring equipment.
The algorithms used in the IMU module can be ported to any chips or wearable devices - the Navigine development kits (SDKs) have already been requested by companies from Europe and the USA.
About hackathon
115 developers submitted applications for participation in the hackathon, of which seven of the strongest teams were chosen. With the support of IBM mentors, teams made seven ready-made applications in 24 hours.
The IBM Bluemix cloud platform, which participants used to organize the backend, provides an opportunity to quickly deploy the execution environment for almost any language and connect the necessary services from an extensive list.
')
The winner of the hackathon was the startup Navigine with the FireFighter application. This app is for navigating firefighters inside buildings.
Firefighter
Since 2011, Startup Navigine has been working on a platform for accurate indoor geolocation services - including navigation, marketing, and analysis of people's movements. The company's main solutions are: Navigine Indoor (navigation inside the building), Navigine Marketing (geo-location notifications in applications) and Navigine Analytics (analytics of movements inside the building).
The technological core of Navigine, based on joint processing of Wi-Fi / Bluetooth LE signals and measurements from internal sensors of smartphones, as well as the use of SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Mapping) technology, allows to achieve meter positioning accuracy inside the premises. The key know-how is the joint processing algorithms for measurements from disparate sensors, on which the startup has been working for more than three years. Algorithms allow you to effectively filter the noise of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals and complement these signals with data from gyroscopes, accelerometers and a magnetometer.
Sample screens of the Navigine application for airports
During the hackathon, ready-made solutions needed to be adapted to new goals: the application should help the firefighters to navigate inside the premises. The developers used the Navigine Autonomous solution, based on the Inertial Measurement Unit, an inertial measurement module. The module includes a set of sensors - gyroscopes, accelerometers and a magnetometer. The module is attached to the foot and allows you to calculate the length and direction of a person’s step. Knowing the initial coordinate of the module and integrating the information about the steps using special PDR (Pedestrian Dead Reckoning) algorithms, you can get the exact location of a person at any time. All calculations occur locally on the microcontroller that is on board the IMU.
The building does not need to be prepared for navigation, there is no need to install additional equipment - it will not necessarily be a shopping center that uses BLE beacons or Wi-Fi access points. This is critically important because it is impossible to prepare in advance for a fire until such navigation is provided by lawmakers. In addition, any infrastructure can be destroyed by fire.
The accuracy of FireFighter will be less than 1% of the distance traveled, that is, about a meter for every hundred meters passed by a firefighter. The module determines the coordinates with a frequency of up to three times per second. The coordinates from the device are transferred to the fireman’s smartphone or any other Bluetooth-compatible device, from where it is transmitted over any available communication channel - for example, 4G.
Work at Bluemix
IBM Bluemix is a cloud-based platform for developing and deploying web, mobile, and integration applications based on Cloud Foundry, Dockers, and Open Stack open technologies. The platform provides the ability to develop software code in various languages, and also provides a wide range of off-the-shelf software components (services) that a developer can integrate into his application.
Before working with Bluemix, the Navigine team had experience with Amazon Cloud, SAP HANA Cloud Platform and Windows Azure cloud solutions. Bluemix interfaces have a number of advantages, including specific services that are not found on other platforms: for example, IBM Watson , equipped with a question-answer artificial intelligence system. Also on the Bluemix platform, it is possible to use git to transfer changes and start services.
According to Navigine director Alexey Panov, IBM Bluemix is a convenient cloud platform for deploying such solutions.
The team made two backend applications to share responsibilities between developers in a limited time environment. For communication between applications, we developed an API based on Web Socket.
The fate of the application
Startup Navigine will develop the FireFighter solution and first of all will offer it for the work of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other special purpose services. Now active work is being carried out in the framework of a joint venture with NP GLONASS. One of the areas where the FireFighter system can be applied is the quality control of cellular network coverage inside buildings, which may be of interest to cellular companies and companies involved in measuring equipment.
The algorithms used in the IMU module can be ported to any chips or wearable devices - the Navigine development kits (SDKs) have already been requested by companies from Europe and the USA.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/259877/
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