Avalanches, earthquakes, bombs and floods. We’re used to these stories being in the news regularly and we’re all familiar with the often manic rush in the aftermath of such events to find survivors buried in the rubble.
Once every now and then, there’s a success story, where some clever sniffer dog or brave rescue team finds a survivor, sometimes even a week after the incident, alive and breathing. However, these miraculous survivors are normally just a small portion of survivors trapped, and many unfortunately die from being crushed, dehydration or asphyxiation. The number of survivors could be dramatically increased if rescue workers had some form of technology to help locate them, and this is where FINDER steps in.
In a partnership between NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and America’s Department of Homeland Security, a prototype technology is being developed called FINDER, short for Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response, which can locate individuals buried in disasters.
FINDER was created to detect a human heartbeat, something not all that new, but it’s the performance which is really noteworthy. The device is claimed to be able to detect the survivor’s heartbeat beneath 30ft of crushed material, hidden behind 20ft of solid concrete, and at a distance of 100ft in open space!
"Testing proved successful in locating a task force member buried in 30 feet of mixed concrete, rebar and gravel rubble from a distance of over 30 feet," said John Price, DHS Science and Technology programme manager. "This capability will complement the current urban search and rescue tools such as canines, listening devices and video cameras to detect the presence of living victims in rubble."
A problem FINDER faces, however, is the radar signals bouncing back irregularly from the strewn debris following earthquakes or tornadoes. This makes it difficult to decipher the signals.
"Isolating the relatively weak signal of a heartbeat within the noisy signals becomes a difficult task," said Edward Chow, JPL program manager. "JPL’s radar expertise helps in this challenge."
To combat the problem, JPL uses advanced data processing systems to pick out faint signals. The microwave radar technology is sensitive enough to distinguish the unique signature of a human’s breathing pattern and heartbeat from that of other living creatures, such as rats. The advantage of this technology is to allow first responders to quickly ascertain if a living human is present in the debris. The technology is sensitive enough that victims, whether conscious or not, can easily be detected, which helps responders decide the most efficient course of action.
"It is anticipated that a commercialised technology could be ready for search and rescue operations as early as spring 2014," Price said.
There were earlier tests that resulted in design changes that are now being incorporated into a new version of the device. These changes include a revised user interface, and increased battery life of up to 14 hours. The mechanical and electronic design has evolved with the core being a lightweight sensing module that uses a USB interface to integrate an antenna, radar electronics and digital processing.
"This module is the key to future miniaturization and the use of FINDER sensing technology in other applications," said James Lux, task manager for the FINDER project at JPL.
Those applications include installing FINDER on proposed search and rescue robots, such as JPL’s Urbie, on stretchers or ambulances to monitor a patient’s heartbeat, and in biology research to distinguish species.
I’m very excited to see this technology put to use and commericialised, as I believe it could revololutionise the survival rates in war-stricken and natural disaster-prone areas. Just imagine how many lives it would save following an avalance or earthquake.
