April 2007

RESCUE’s SAMI project (Situational Awareness from Multimodal Input) developing practical applications for first responders.  

A current thrust of our SAMI project is to transition the technology we have developed into several practical applications for first responders.  SAMI (see http://sami.ics.uci.edu/), one of our primary RESCUE projects, focuses on developing next generation situational information management systems.  In this issue of eNews we highlight several prototype systems that will be of interest to the first responder community.

The first system is a Web-based integrated Disaster Portal that we are developing in collaboration with the City of Ontario for the primary purpose of disseminating information to the local Ontario community.  Information that will be disseminated includes real-time details of incidents and responses as well as the status of public infrastructure, such as roadways.  During large-scale events the information to be shared can include general announcements, maps, emergency shelter information, family reunification assistance, management of donations and volunteer resources, etc.  Other capabilities include the ability of users to perform searches for the whereabouts of displaced family and friends, traffic flow monitoring and identification of anomalous events, and an automated system by which local businesses and organizations can sign up to receive customized information during an incident via a number of modalities including Web, phone, or SMS.  A working prototype of the Ontario portal is accessible at http://www.disasterportal.org:8380/Ontario/.

Our second prototype is a predictive modeling system that detects “unusual activity” from people or traffic sensor data. A Web-based display allows users to view a map of the desired area.  The system then shows indications of any unusual activity in this region. A predictive modeling algorithm detects unusual events (such as unusually high traffic concentration, people concentration, etc.) based on past patterns and current sensor data.  We are using real-time California highway traffic data for this system.  Although the enabling technology that will permit this technology to be deployed city wide is still in the future, we are developing a demo using real data that will show its potential in the areas of situational awareness and security.  First responders and security personnel can be alerted to investigate unusual activities (such as a bank where no one has left the building for five minutes during a normally active time of the day) and then used in decision making to help allocate resources.  Another example of its potential in situational analysis is to provide EOC officers with immediate information about population densities to aid with decisions such as which locations would be most suited to use as shelters. 

In our third application we have initiated a study of voice analysis that occurs in emergency situations.  Using 9-1-1 audio tapes provided by the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), our collaborators in speech analysis at SRI International are analyzing such calls from the perspective of automated extraction and synthesis. The work is the audio aspect of a broader SAMI thrust of the exploitation of “semantics” in information extraction and synthesis from data of any modality, text, audio or video.

The SAMI project will be featured in an upcoming interactive Webcast using the Elluminate Web conferencing system.  We’ll send you an invitation with specifics in the coming weeks.

RESCUE “Igniting Technology” event planned for March 1 at UCI.  

You are cordially invited to attend a technology open house at the Calit2 building on the evening of March 1, 2007. We’ve titled the event “One Step Ahead of the Crisis: Innovative Technology Solutions for Disaster Preparedness.” Additional information including registration details is available at http://www.calit2.net/events/ignitingtechnology/. In addition to a panel session of technology developers and first responders there will be a tradeshow that features several breakthrough prototypes.  Participating companies and organizations include 5G Wireless, D-Link, Ether2, ImageCat, Ontario Fire Department, Project RESCUE, The School Broadcasting Company and the UCI Office of Technology Alliances. We hope you can attend.