The name doesn't ring a bell yet, but in a few years, this cutting-edge predictive security system developed to analyze in real time rescue operations dangers will certainly become part of the firefighters equipment, whether professional or volunteer. PredictOPs, we explain everything to you.
The good news came out end of February: PredictOPs, the research project born out of a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering of the Antonine University (UA) and the Unité de formation et recherche (UFR) of Université de Franche-Comté, stood out from the forty or so other competing projects of the 2021 Programme PHC CEDRE and ended up among the finalists. The Next step is to turn it into a reality in two years only. The research will be conducted at the TICKET Research Lab (UA) and the FEMTO-ST lab (UFR) under the joint supervision of Dr. Chady Abou Jaoude, dean of the UA Faculty of Engineering, Professor Abdallah Makhoul, and Professor Christophe Guyeux from Franche-Comté.
PredictOPs, the why of it
PredictOPs’ ultimate goal is to improve firefighters’ safety and performance. One cannot know what happened on August 4 and just ignore to what extent firefighters put their lives in danger each time they are on call. In order to protect them and keep them from fighting blindly without being able to analyze correctly the danger, they will be equipped with smart biosensors that will collect data in real time during their intervention. These biosensors will interact with each other and communicate important information to nurses or doctors that are part of the team, via the GSM network/Internet. Thus, thanks to critical pieces of information sent in real time, the backup team members will be able to assess and monitor firefighters’ health on the field and know their exact location. In addition, a connected watch will also be used and reprogrammed as a “dead-man beacon” in order to locate, in the event of a problem, firemen both outside and inside buildings. Subsequently, all the data collected related to the firefighters’ health state and to the evolution of the environment in which they have worked, will permit the setting up or the completion of three knowledge bases which will be exploited by artificial intelligence to improve firefighters' interventions.
PredictOPs: what about UA students?
PredictOPs will mainly involve researchers, PhD students and research assistants from UA’s Faculty of Engineering and UFR. Students in their 4th and 5th year will also potentially be concerned if their research internship or graduation project is related to PredictOPs’s project. This is the kind of experience that opens many doors! Once completed, the PredictOPs prototype will be presented to a mixed jury during an event at the Institut Français du Liban and offered to firefighters in France and Lebanon.
No doubts that projects like PredictOPs are the fulfillment of Antonine University's mission.