Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology offer
- POD Reference
- TOIT20240611024
- Term of Validity
- 11 June 2024 - 11 June 2025
- Company's Country
- Italy
- Type of partnership
- Investment agreement
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- An Italian ICT company has led the exploitation of a solution that provides accurate information of the user’s position, including environments where typical commercial solutions fail (e.g., outdoor-indoor transitions). The company seeks investors to support further development. This technology stems from an EU project on DRS-02-Technologies for first responders.
- Full Description
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First responders (FRs) often operate in dangerous environments. In order to avoid known hazards, find their way easily to entry or exit points, and be apprised of dangers close to their team-mates, they need an accurate and robust means of self-localization in a range of conditions and environments, including outdoor, indoor, or underground. Each FR’s position is not only important to themselves, but also to their team, team leader, and the command centre. The same need applies to other sectors, such as autonomous vehicles or robots. Such devices also need to self-localize in any environment they are needed to operate in, as required by their particular use-cases, in order to perform their tasks (e.g., navigation, moving objects, etc.).
The proposed solution will fuse the outputs of:
1. A novel collaborative inertial localisation method with increased accuracy that provides location correction in an opportunistic manner, based on available external modalities
2. A GNSS satellite localization method with increased accuracy and an evaluation of the signal quality
3. A visual-based localisation method that estimates the location from which an image is taken, in a known environment
It will run as a smartphone application or as an external solution, using the phone’s onboard sensors and/or external ones, and optionally connecting to an external camera (such as a helmet-mounted camera). It will provide accurate information of the user’s position and orientation, including in environments where typical commercial solutions fail (e.g., indoors, underground, outdoors).
Different profiles could make use of available connectivity or other resources, such as external processing devices. In case of sufficient connectivity, a large part of the processing could be offloaded to the cloud. When no Internet connectivity is available, an external processing device (such as a small portable computer) can be utilised. When neither connectivity nor a portable computer is available, less processing-intensive modalities will be utilised (satellite and inertial), while the visual part would only run sparsely. However, with smartphone processing capabilities increasing drastically every year, a standalone smartphone application could be feasible in the near future.
The solution was tested and evaluated in pilots in a relevant environment and the company is searching for investors to support the ongoing development and improvement of this technology. - Advantages and Innovations
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The Unique Value Proposition of the proposed solution is that it is a fusion of different modalities (satellite, inertial, and visual), meaning increased accuracy and robustness compared to existing solutions. It will be able to operate in different conditions and environments (both indoors and outdoors), while for every set of circumstances, the best modality will be used. In addition, each modality will work to correct the others and offset their disadvantages. This could allow FRs to move from an outdoor search into a building and its basement, or a robot to operate in different environments (e.g., a drone could fly to a mountain, and then move to explore the inside of a cave).
Accurate and seamless positioning in diverse environments, tailored for first responder use. The International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation (IFAFRI) has identified “real-time tracking of first responders” as a “capability gap #1”. The ability to know the location of responders and their proximity to threats and hazards in real-time with new or improved technologies will greatly enhance the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency. Moreover, by enhancing FR capabilities, the resulting reduction of risks to life and property will make a direct contribution towards safeguarding the fundamental rights and freedoms of EU citizens. The technologies developed have been identified to contribute to reducing the time of exposure and situational uncertainty in adverse conditions, thus minimising risks of occupational health and safety nature. By providing tangible improvements against health and safety risks, the technology also make the profession of FR a much more attractive proposition as a career choice. - Stage of Development
- Lab tested
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
- IPR status
- No IPR applied
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
- Looking for investors interested in supporting the future development of the technology.
- Type and Size of Partner
- SME 50 - 249
- SME 11-49
- Type of partnership
- Investment agreement
- Research and development cooperation agreement
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 01003024 - Cloud Technologies
- 01003025 - Internet of Things
- 01003023 - Environmental and Biometrics Sensors, Actuators
- 01003021 - Remote Control
- Market keywords
- 05004002 - Rescue and emergency equipment
- Targeted countries
- All countries
