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Kyriaki Christaki, Dimitrios Tsiakmakis, Ivanka Babic, Guillaume Inglese, Konstantinos Konstantoudakis, Gabriele Giunta, et al. (2022). Augmented Reality Points of Interest for Improved First Responder Situational Awareness. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 755–770). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: Situational awareness is a vital component of any disaster response mission, both in terms of first responder (FR) safety and efficiency. Points of interest (POI) can pertain to hazards known beforehand, risks discovered during the course of a mission, victims, entry and exit routes, important equipment, and more. Although communications and technical means can expand an individual FR’s situational awareness, they depend on clarity and can increase cognitive load, as this expanded volume of information must be held in each FR’s memory. Augmented reality (AR) can visualize POIs in context with the environment in a clear and intuitive way and reduce cognitive load as the don’t rely on a user’s memory. This paper presents an AR solution for FR team situational awareness, comprising four interconnected and collaborating situational awareness tools sharing a common pool of virtual POIs, alongside a range of different functionalities particular to each.
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Thomas Theodoridis, George Katsikas, Nicholas Vretos, & Petros Daras. (2022). A Symbiotic Orchestration Module for Multi-agent Collaboration in Disaster Response Scenarios. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 771–780). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: This paper presents the Symbiotic Orchestration Module, which facilitates the collaboration of smart agents in disaster response scenarios. By effectively orchestrating the actions of different agents in critical situations towards a common goal, it enhances the individual capabilities of the agents and unlocks new possibilities that are not available when agents act isolated. To achieve this, the Symbiotic Orchestration Module is composed of four sub-modules: a) the Mission Controller, which is responsible for keeping track of ongoing missions, agent allocations and for handling non-collaborative missions, b) the Symbiotic Operation Control Module, which handles collaborative missions proposed by the system, c) the Task Allocation Module, which automatically assigns available robots to incoming missions based on robot capabilities and mission requirements, and d) the Task Recognition and Optimal Sequencing Module, which is responsible for recognizing opportunities for agent collaboration and for system-wide goal optimization.
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Dimitrios Sainidis, Dimitrios Tsiakmakis, Konstantinos Konstantoudakis, Georgios Albanis, Anastasios Dimou, & Petros Daras. (2021). Single-Handed Gesture UAV Control and Video Feed AR Visualization for First Responders. In Anouck Adrot, Rob Grace, Kathleen Moore, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 835–848). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming increasingly widespread in recent years, with numerous applications spanning multiple sectors. UAVs can be of particular benefit to first responders, assisting in both hazard detection and search-and-rescue operations, increasing their situational awareness without endangering human personnel; However, conventional UAV control requires both hands on a remote controller and many hours of training to control efficiently. Additionally, viewing the UAV video-feed on conventional devices (e.g. smartphones) require first responders to glance downwards to look at the screen, increasing the risk of accident. To this end, this work presents a unified system, incorporating single-hand gesture control for UAVs and an augmented reality (AR) visualization of their video feed, while also allowing for backup remote UAV control from any device and multiple-recipient video streaming. A modular architecture allows the upgrade or replacement of individual modules without affecting the whole. The presented system has been tested in the lab, and in field trials by first responders.
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Enrique Caballero, Angel Madridano, Dimitrios Sainidis, Konstantinos Konstantoudakis, Petros Daras, & Pablo Flores. (2021). An automated UAV-assisted 2D mapping system for First Responders. In Anouck Adrot, Rob Grace, Kathleen Moore, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 890–902). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Recent advances in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) sector have allowed such systems to carry a range of sensors, thus increasing their versatility and adaptability to a wider range of tasks and services. Furthermore, the agility of these vehicles allows them to adapt to rapidly changing environments making them an effective tool for emergency situations. A single UAV, or a swarm working in collaboration, can be a handy and helpful tool for First Responders (FRs) during mission planning, mission monitoring, and the tracking of evolving risks. UAVs, with their on-board sensors, can, among other things, capture visual information of the disaster scene in a safe and quick manner, and generate an up-to-date map of the area. This work presents a system for UAV-assisted mapping optimized for FRs, including the generation of routes for the UAVs to follow, data collection and processing, and map generation.
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Konstantinos Konstantoudakis, Georgios Albanis, Emmanouil Christakis, Nikolaos Zioulis, Anastasios Dimou, Dimitrios Zarpalas, et al. (2020). Single-Handed Gesture UAV Control for First Responders – A Usability and Performance User Study. In Amanda Hughes, Fiona McNeill, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2020 Conference Proceedings – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 937–951). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have increased in popularity in recent years and are now involved in many activities, professional and otherwise. First responders, those teams and individuals who are the first to respond in crisis situations, have been using UAVs to assist them in locating victims and identifying hazards without endangering human personnel needlessly. However, professional UAV controllers tend to be heavy and cumbersome, requiring both hands to operate. First responders, on the other hand, often need to carry other important equipment and need to keep their hands free during a mission. This work considers enabling first responders to control UAVs with single-handed gestures, freeing their other hand and reducing their encumbrance. Two sets of gesture UAV controls are presented and implemented in a simulated environment, and a two-part user study is conducted: the first part assesses the comfort of each gesture and their intuitive association with basic flight control concepts; and the second evaluates two different modes of gesture control in a population of users including both genders, and first responders as well as members of the general populace. The results, consisting of both objective and subjective measurements, are discussed, hindrances and problems are identified, and directions of future work and research are mapped out.
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