The First Responder (FR) of the Future: a Next Generation Integrated Toolkit (NGIT) for Collaborative Response, increasing protection and augmenting operational capacity

INGENIOUS will develop, integrate, test, deploy and validate a Next Generation Integrated Toolkit (NGIT) for Collaborative Response, which ensures high level of Protection & Augmented Operational Capacity to respond to the disaster scene.

This will comprise a multitude of tools and services require for:

1. enabling protection of the FRs with respect to their health, safety and security;
2. enhancing their operational capacities by offering them means to conduct various response tasks and missions boosted with autonomy, automation, precise positioning, optimal utilisation of available resources and upgraded awareness and sense-making;
3. allowing shared response across FR teams and disciplines by augmenting their field of view, information sharing and communications between teams and with victims.

Within this project, Alpes Lasers participates in the fabrication of the INGENIOUS Helmet and of Multi-Purpose Autonomous eXploring drones (MAX). 

ALPES together with TUW will contribute in the design and development of a novel miniaturised photothermal CBRN sensor that will be integrated to the INGENIOUS helmet enhancing the protection of the FRs when entering hazardous spaces and increasing their situational awareness about a variety of substances existing in the air. The main building blocks of the gas sensor are a tuneable Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) coupled with a Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometer. The identification will be done through photothermal spectroscopy, using the QCLs to excite the gas molecules, and then using a probe laser to detect difference in resonance. The probe laser will be in the near Infrared (NIR) region.