IMMERSIVE AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEM TO STUDY THE EFFICIENCY OF DYNAMIC EXIT SIGNAGE

Every year, many disasters occur to buildings causing their destruction and leading to huge casualties. One way of preventing casualties is by evacuation drill activity. Although accurate evacuation drills could enhance the efficiency of the process during the real event, these drills are not fully effective because participants miss the sense of being stressed or under pressure while in action. Several gaming concepts have been introduced to train the participants on how to cope with and evacuate effectively during an emergency. For instance, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) interfaces could provide virtual content to enhance the effectiveness of evacuation drills. However, accurate representation of different evacuation scenarios and its impact analysis during emergency using the above technologies are still debatable, mainly due to immersion quality. Thus, this study proposes an Immersive Augmented Reality (IAR) application that is mainly the amalgamation of AR and VR in realizing fast and safe evacuation during on-site building emergencies. A virtual dynamic exit signage system is also developed in the proposed “Smart Evacuation application“. This work evaluated the efficiency of a virtual dynamic exit signage and also a proposed “Smart Evacuation“ system by analysing on-site emergency evacuation processes. By setting up various scenarios imitating real life disasters, this research analysed the time taken and level of stress of the occupants during the evacuation of a chosen site. The proposed “Smart Evacution“ achieved 33.82% better perfomance compared to normal evacuation thus indicating a faster and safer evacuation. ABSTRAK: Secara statistik, kebanyakan bencana kemusnahan bangunan yang berlaku setiap tahun telah menyebabkan kerugian besar. Salah satu cara bagi mengelak kejadian ini adalah melalui aktiviti latih tubi evakuasi. Walaupun latih tubi evakuasi ini dapat menambah proses kecekapan semasa kejadian sebenar, latih tubi ini tidak benar-benar berkesan kerana peserta kurang mendalami perasaan tertekan atau di bawah tekanan semasa kejadian. Pelbagai konsep permainan telah diperkenalkan bagi melatih peserta bagaimana perlu bertindak dan evakuasi secara efektif semasa kecemasan. Sebagai contoh, antarmuka Realiti Terimbuh (AR) dan Realiti Maya (VR) mungkin dapat menghasilkan simulasi secara maya bagi menambah keberkesanan latih tubi evakuasi. Walau bagaimanapun, ketepatan representasi pelbagai senario evakuasi dan analisis tekanan semasa kecemasan menggunakan teknik-teknik di atas adalah masih boleh dipertikaikan terutama kerana kualiti kedalamannya. Oleh itu, kajian ini mencadangkan aplikasi Realiti Terimbuh Mendalam (IAR) di mana tumpuan adalah pada kombinasi AR dan VR dibuat dengan secara evakuasi pantas dan selamat semasa kecemasan pada bangunan kejadian. Sistem maya penunjuk arah keluar dinamik turut dicipta dalam “Aplikasi Evakuasi Pintar” yang dicadangkan ini. Kajian ini menilai keberkesanan sistem maya penunjuk arah keluar secara dinamik dan juga sistem “Evakuasi Pintar” dengan menganalisa proses evakuasi kecemasan pada tempat kejadian. Dengan mengadakan pelbagai jenis senario dan meniru bencana sebenar, kajian ini menganalisa masa yang diambil dan tahap tekanan penghuni bangunan semasa proses evakuasi berlaku pada tapak pilihan. “Evakuasi Pintar” ini mencapai 33.82% keberkesanan pada prestasi berbanding evakuasi biasa. Ia membuktikan proses evakuasi ini lebih pantas dan selamat.

Determination of Appropriate Operation of Firefighting Facility using Fire and Evacuation Simulations

Recently, a performance-based design of a fire protection facility has been proposed that significantly contributes to the construction of safe and reliable buildings. Improving the performance of the fire protection facility will enable protection of the public along with the infrastructure. Designs focusing on the fire protection performance generally add or modify architectural aspects through fire and evacuation simulations. However, a secure evacuation system aided with CCTVs has rarely been considered as an active system. Particularly for apartments, it is very difficult to assure evacuation safety without using an active system in fire and evacuation simulations with the front door of the burning room open. Safety can be achieved by combining a passive system with an active system, on the basis that the building premises has the foundation of a passive system. The regulation on the evacuation delay time in the nation was brought in effect through the SFPE paper but was deleted since the data reliability was insufficient. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to analyze the operation of a fire protection facility required to ensure safety by planning multiple simulations of a fire and evacuation system. An apartment has been considered as an example to design the foundation for a standard evacuation safety system. An active system is applied to execute fire and evacuation simulations, with focus on the fire protection performance.

Development of Early Warning and Evacuation System for Multi-Density Facilities in Case of Fire

Multi-density facilities with relatively large number of resident occupants and visitors can face large-scale casualties in the event of disasters such as a fire. In addition, such disasters may cause additional damage by inducing social anxiety regarding various protection measures of the buildings, such as their safety management systems. This study was aimed at developing an early warning and evacuation system to minimize casualties in multi-density facilities in case of a fire. In particular, smoke and heat detectors, which are widely used, were utilized to establish an early warning system for old multi-density facilities with relatively poor safety management systems. For the purpose of evacuation following the early warning, an online platform-based ‘Fire Safety Management’ system was established to deliver appropriate action tips to all occupants according to the four risk stages of a fire.

Spray mist reduction by means of a high-volume evacuation system—Results of an experimental study

Objectives High-speed tooth preparation requires effective cooling to avoid thermal damage, which generates spray mist, which is a mixture of an aerosol, droplets and particles of different sizes. The aim of this experimental study was to analyze the efficacy of spray mist reduction with an intraoral high-volume evacuation system (HVE) during simulated high-speed tooth preparation for suboptimal versus optimal suction positions of 16 mm sized cannulas and different flow rates of the HVE. Material and methods In a manikin head, the upper first premolar was prepared with a dental turbine, and generated particles of 5–50 microns were analyzed fifty millimeters above the mouth opening with the shadow imaging technique (frame: 6.6×5.3×1.1 mm). This setup was chosen to generate a reproducible spray mist in a vertical direction towards an imaginary operator head (worst case scenario). The flow rate (FR) of the HVE was categorized into five levels (≤120 l/min up to 330 l/min). The number of particles per second (NP; p/s) was counted, and the mass volume flow of particles per second (MVF; μg/s*cm3) was calculated for 10 sec. Statistical tests were nonparametric and two-sided (p≤0.05). Results With increasing flow rate, the NP/MVF values decreased significantly (eta: 0.671/0.678; p≤0.001). Using a suboptimally positioned cannula with an FR≤160 l/min, significantly higher NP values (mean±SD) of 731.67±54.24 p/s (p≤0.019) and an MVF of 3.72±0.42 μg/s*cm3 (p≤0.010) were measured compared to those of the optimal cannula position and FR≥300 l/min (NP/MVF: 0/0). No significant difference in NP and MVF was measurable between FR≥250 l/min and FR>300 l/min (p = 0.652, p = 0.664). Conclusion Within the limitations of the current experimental study, intraoral high-flow rate suction with ≥300 l/min with an HVE effectively reduced 5–50 μm sized particles of the spray mist induced by high-speed tooth preparation with a dental turbine.

Development of Smart Evacuation System for Fire Response in Apartments

A smart evacuation system is developed herein to reduce damage to lives and property by inducing rapid evacuation of the residents in the event of apartment fires. The smart evacuation system provides a safe evacuation environment and the best physical evacuation conditions by detecting the loads to be applied to evacuation facilities at all times. In addition, fire information is automatically disseminated to the residents and managers during a fire for initial evacuation, and the function for early fire extinguishing is enabled via report to the 119 situation room. The smart evacuation system comprises a safety ladder for evacuation, an ideal detection system to detect obstructions in the evacuation facilities, and a communication system to quickly inform authorities, residents, and managers of a fire. To verify effective performance of the safety ladder, real safety ladders were constructed and their structural performance and usability were verified. In addition, to ensure their permanent space in evacuation facilities, we verified that obstructions to evacuation were accurately detected as anomalies in real time using contactless sensors and communication modules. Finally, the fire information was sent to residents and managers in case of a fire to assist evacuation as well as reported to 119 for rapid suppression. Thus, we demonstrate that the smart evacuation system allows safe and effective evacuation with fast and accurate information in the event of a fire and is useful for initial response for fire suppression.

A BIM-Based Smart System for Fire Evacuation

Building fires constitute a significant threat that affects property, the environment, and human health. The management of this risk requires an efficient fire evacuation system for buildings’ occupants. Therefore, a smart fire evacuation system that combines building information modeling (BIM) and smart technologies is proposed. The system provides the following capacities: (i) early fire detection; (ii) the evaluation of environmental data; (iii) the identification of the best evacuation path; and (iv) information for occupants about the best evacuation routes. The system was implemented in a research building at Lille University in France. The results show the system’s capacities and benefits, particularly for the identification of the best evacuation paths.

Relieving Bottlenecks during Evacuations Using IoT Devices and Agent-Based Simulation

Most of the existing studies on relieving bottlenecks have aimed to develop route-finding algorithms that consider structural factors such as passages and stairs, as well as human factors such as density and speed. However, the methods in providing evacuation routes are as important as the route-making algorithms because a secondary bottleneck could occur continuously during evacuations. Even if an evacuation system provides the same routes to all evacuees regardless of their locations, secondary bottlenecks could happen following the initial bottlenecks due to people rushing toward uncrowded exits all together. To address this issue, we developed a location-based service (LBS) evacuation system prototype that provides optimized-alternative routes to evacuees in real time considering their locations in indoor space. The system was designed to relieve continuous bottlenecks, which relies on installed IoT sensors and beacon machines which detect bottlenecks and provide updated routes, separately. Next, we conducted agent-based simulations to measure the system’s effectiveness (evacuation time reduction and dispersion of evacuees) by changing the system parameters. Simulation results show the evacuation time decreased from 100 to 65 s, and the number of people who took a detour to avoid bottlenecks increased by 28.66% out of the total evacuees with this system. Since this system provides the theoretical solution for distributing evacuees, it can be flexibly employed to a disaster situation in a large and complex indoor environment by applying to other evacuation systems. Moreover, by adjusting parameters, we can derive maximum evacuation effectiveness in other indoor spaces. Future work will consider demographic features of population and multilayer building structure to draw a more accurate pedestrian flow.