Monitored Audio Evacuation Routes for Low-Visibility Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
In emergencies requiring evacuation, occupants may struggle to determine safe evacuation routes due to poor visibility, unfamiliarity with their environment, panic, or blocked routes, especially in situations like fires.
Innovation Solution
A system of safety monitors equipped with speakers, motion sensors, and cameras provides personalized audio guidance to occupants, tracking their presence and updating their evacuation routes, with backup routes and communication to first responders.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If occupants rely on visual cues to determine evacuation routes, then route identification may be clear in normal conditions, but visibility becomes insufficient in emergency conditions such as fire
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces visual mechanical guidance systems with acoustic guidance. Audio outputs from speakers provide directional instructions to occupants, substituting the failed visual cues in smoke-filled environments. The system uses motion sensors and cameras to detect occupant positions and provides verbal guidance through audio signals, enabling evacuation when visual pathways are obscured.
2Loss of time
If occupants use familiar knowledge to choose evacuation routes, then route selection may be quick and intuitive, but the chosen route may be blocked or unsafe during the emergency
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the environment using motion sensors and cameras to detect blocked routes or hazards. It provides real-time feedback to occupants through audio guidance, dynamically adjusting route recommendations based on current conditions. This feedback loop allows occupants to receive updated directional instructions that reflect the latest safety information, overriding their initial route choices if conditions change.
Solution Approach 2:
The evacuation guidance system transitions from static pre-planned routes to dynamic real-time route adjustment. The system adapts its guidance based on detected occupant positions, environmental conditions, and route accessibility, providing continuously updated audio directions that reflect the current emergency state rather than relying on fixed predetermined paths.
3Reliability
If a comprehensive monitoring system is deployed to track all occupants and provide personalized guidance, then evacuation safety and efficiency are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses multi-functional safety monitors that combine motion sensing, camera surveillance, audio output, and communication capabilities in single units. These universal monitors perform multiple functions including occupancy detection, route monitoring, guidance provision, and first responder communication, reducing the need for separate specialized devices and simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining comprehensive monitoring capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed technology is directed towards providing guidance, e.g., point-to-point audio guidance, along an evacuation route. The presence of occupant(s) within a structure/area is monitored. If an evacuation event occurs, an evacuation route is determined for each occupant based on their current monitored starting location. Guidance is output, e.g., by various output devices along the evacuation route, which can be the safety monitors that monitor occupant presence, to guide each occupant from point-to-point along the evacuation route. For example, one monitor can be configured to hand off guidance responsibility to a next monitor along the evacuation route. The guidance can be customized for each known occupant based on their recognized features, or can be directed generally to an unknown occupant. Status information of the occupants can be provided to other occupants and to a responding entity. A responding entity can also be given directional guidance.