Vladimir Jansa

There are many groups of people who can benefit from precise localization in difficult conditions. It provides more safety or even enables them to move independently in specific areas. The most pertinent examples are blind, handicapped or elderly people or professionals such as soldiers, policemen, firemen and ohter search and rescue squads.

A very specific, but from a commercial point of view very interesting group comprises children. Probably all parents have at times dreamt of knowing the exact position of their daughter or son who is wakling somewhere outside in a potentially dangerous world. Personal Watcher is a device designed for personal protection. It continuously monitors certain live parameters and transmits them together with the precise position to the command / surveillance center at regular intervals or, in event that an emergency condition is detected, immediately.

Emergency conditions are:

  • Emergence Alert from panic buttom
  • Fall-Down Alert from inertial sensor
  • Technologic Alert (such as low battery)
  • Area & Proximity Alert triggered by crossing prset boundaries or close to defined points

The ICE company involved in the EU project SCORE (Service of Coordinated Operational Emergency & Rescue using EGNOS) used particular project outputs and patented indoor localization algorithms of another consortium member ALCATEL ALNEIA SPAZIO, combined it with its own non-GPS positioning methods based on inertial motion sensors and magnetic compass and integrated it in handy battery-operated device equipped with wireless communication capabilities covering GSM, GPRS, WiFi and radio-beacon. ICE PERSONAL WATCHER is the first commercial product on the market using core EGNOS technology and providing real A-GNSS.

The main advantages of the A-GNSS compared to conventional GPS receivers are:

  • Short time to First Fix
  • Precise localization under difficult conditions (urban canyons, indoor)

As the position is calculated from raw satellite datea, there is a possibility of software switching between different satellite networks (GALILEO, NavStar, GLONASS).

The device features an emergency call button sending location information and establishing two-way voice communication to predefined numbers.

A 433 MHz radio beacon provides location in deep underground places and other environments with poor or no coverage of the standard networks. An integrated inertial motion sensor is able not only to dermine that the person is moving, but even whether the tracked person is breathing. It is possible to connect supplementary sensors for essential live parameters. The combination of the measurements can recognize the following basic states of the bearer:

  • Active standing (normal condition)
  • Active lying (normal condition)
  • Breathing lying (suspicion of injury)
  • Steady lying (suspicion of death All information from the unit is accessible through an Internet-based GIS server.

Contact:
Vladimir Jansa
Evropska 94
CZ-16000 Prague 6
Czech Republic
phone: +42 (0) 2333 215 16
e-mail: jansa@icenet.cz
www.icenet.cz