Beacon Transmitters for Indoor Emergency Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In emergency situations, such as fires or shootings, communication of local information to individuals within a building is hindered by GPS failures and cellular signal overload, making it difficult for people to receive accurate location-based emergency instructions.
Innovation Solution
Deployment of beacon transmitters using WiFi or Bluetooth signals, integrated with floor plans and maps, allows for localized information dissemination through a server system, enabling emergency responders to provide customized exit routes and threat information to users' devices without relying on cellular networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cellular communication is used to transmit emergency information, then information can be communicated over wide areas, but the cellular network becomes overloaded and cannot reach individuals inside buildings
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the emergency communication function into two parts: cellular towers handle broad area alerts, while local beacon transmitters handle building-specific detailed instructions. This segmentation allows the system to bypass cellular network overload for critical location-specific information by using independent WiFi/Bluetooth beacons deployed within buildings.
Solution Approach 2:
WiFi and Bluetooth beacon transmitters serve as intermediary devices that receive emergency information via cellular networks and re-transmit it locally within buildings using non-cellular protocols. This intermediary approach allows information to bypass the overloaded cellular uplink for the final delivery step, ensuring reliable communication inside buildings where cellular signals fail.
2Measurement precision
If GPS is used to determine location, then location information can be obtained outdoors, but GPS fails inside buildings and cannot provide sufficient accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
Beacon transmitters act as intermediary reference points that enable indoor location determination. Instead of relying on satellite-based GPS that cannot penetrate buildings, the system uses local WiFi/Bluetooth beacons as intermediaries to provide location information inside structures, achieving both reliability and precision for indoor emergency guidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements local quality by deploying location determination infrastructure (beacon transmitters) specifically where needed - inside buildings - rather than relying on a universal outdoor solution. Each beacon provides localized positioning information tailored to its specific building environment, ensuring accurate indoor location tracking for emergency evacuation routing.
3Measurement precision
If beacon transmitters are deployed throughout buildings, then local information can be communicated accurately, but device complexity and infrastructure requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The beacon transmitters are implemented using existing WiFi and Bluetooth technology that is already universally deployed in modern buildings for other purposes. By making these existing devices multi-functional - using them both for standard wireless communication and for emergency location-based information delivery - the system avoids adding dedicated complex infrastructure while achieving precise local information communication.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus for efficiently communicating emergency management related information are described. A communications system includes a server, e.g., an emergency management server, and a plurality of beacon transmitters located at different known locations at a site of interest, e.g., a building on a college campus. An emergency management person's device sends information to the server to be communicated to one or more individuals in proximity to a beacon transmitter, with different information being communicated corresponding to different beacon transmitters. The information corresponding to a beacon transmitter includes at least one of a recommended escape route or emergency action. The server receives information including, e.g., a beacon transmitter identifier, from a user device, which is in proximity to a particular beacon transmitter. The server provides to the user device, the particular set of information corresponding to the beacon transmitter identified to be in closest proximity to the user device.