At Sea Remote Recovery

80 has a very limited time to perform their rescuing mission. Fast spreading fire and thick smoke cause by it always result in the poor vision and difficulties in handling the situation such as ex- iting the place in time. Thus personals like the paramedic and fireman need highly reliable communication tools and systems that can help them complete their task successfully and return safely in a short period of time. A communication system that can lead them to a safe and quick response is a must. It is nor- mal for people without special requirements not to have any transmission devices with them and this makes tracking fire vic- tims who are trapped in building more challenging during a breakout of a fire. Therefore, locating a person through radio communication is not possible because the victim might not be having any kind of radio transmitting device which are fully functional. Thus the rescuers have to take personal risk when carrying out a rescue operation. They need to identify the safest route and grab the finest opportunity to save the fire victim. However, the floor directory or plan might not be made availa- ble to the rescue team. A normal building can change complete- ly into a total messy place during a fire. Thus, when a rescue team enters a building on fire it does not mean it would be the safest and best path to take. On top of it, there is the risk of fall- ing objects during the fire. Now we shall see how communica- tion technology can help in locating the best path for the rescue team to be entered during fire emergencies. Surrounding environment can be hardly visible when there is thick smoke during a fire. On the other hand, radio signals are also blocked by energy absorbing materials in the building. Metals are very common in buildings and it has undeniable us- age in the construction and fittings but unluckily, the metal blocks radio signals. The rescue team will face tremendous challenges as visibility is blocked by thick smoke and radio sig- nals block by the obstacles. Hereby advancement in technology enables the rescue mission to be carried out successfully. Tech- 81 nology helps to saves lives. In Chapter 2 we have seen that a signal with a frequency exceeding several GHz can easily pass through materials compared to those signals with lower fre- quency. Low frequency signals are blocked or jammed by ob- stacles. This is best explained in the scenario of interruption of phone calls in a lift as the metal cage blocks the 900MHz cellu- lar signal. Thus, the firemen require a more efficient form of communication than a hand phone to lead them to safety and accomplishing their rescue mission. An essential and complete suite of a fire fighter is shown in Figure 3.6. This figure differs from Figure 3.4 as it comes with some changes in the equip- ment and with the transmission and reception of data capabili- ties. Communication devices that are provided have different functions in ensuring the fire fighter’s safety. The suit is fea- tured to protect both the fire fighter and the equipment itself from long term exposure to toxic gases and heat. Architecture of the communication devices must be designed to function within the suit at all time. Besides, suitable communication filtering should be fix to eliminate any surrounding noise that may affect communication. This is vital since communication should be established at all time during a rescue operation in a building on fire. Oxygen is very important in the scenario of a fire for a better chance of survival. Alert for the oxygen level need to be generated to allow the fire fighter have enough time to plan an escape or to have a supporting team bring in extra oxygen sup- ply before the oxygen finishes. This alert should be designed to notify the fire-fighters in a subtle manner so as not to cause anx- iety that could create a panic situation. It should ease the rescu- ing mission too. Beside the oxygen status, toxic and flammable gas detection equipment, video footage of rescuing task and on site scene is an option to be equipped too. This footage can aid the command center or offsite post to get a clearer picture of what happening in the building on fire. A reliable communica- tion network is essential to ensure the safety of the fire-fighters and the task goes on well. The conventional Very High Fre- quency VHF radio range between 30–300 MHz utilized by US