EAGER: Bio-Inspired Smart Sensor Networks for Adaptive Emergency Response

最近在巴基斯坦(79,000人死亡)、中国(68,000人死亡)和海地(170,000人死亡)发生的地震灾难表明了民用基础设施的巨大脆弱性以及改进应急反应的必要性。不为人所知的是，如此规模的灾难可能会发生在美国：最近的研究估计，仅田纳西州和密苏里州，新马德里断层上的一次重大破裂就可能导致超过7万人的伤亡。这项研究结合了土木工程、计算机科学和神经生物学的技术，试图改变应急人员在处理此类灾难时的有效性--确保对物理结构的稳定性进行快速评估，对被困和非流动受害者进行定位和救援，识别和提供紧急医疗服务，并安全疏散可移动的幸存者。这项研究的重点是开发一种受生物启发的智能传感和通信框架，用于快速应急响应。该系统利用增强的移动电话技术来创建一个神经信息、传感器丰富的信息处理网络。这项研究建立在生物系统以及自适应感知和通信框架的相似性基础上。就像生物神经元一样，每个手机节点都具有通信和计算能力。单个节点能够通过自组织网络与邻居建立本地连接(就像神经元通过突触连接一样)，以及通过细胞塔基础设施进行更远距离的全球通信(类似于扩散神经调节和神经内分泌信号)。手机还具有各种传感器输入功能(例如，声音、视频、运动传感和GPS)，这些功能与生物系统的感知能力相似。这些类比有助于将信息处理原理从神经生物学转化为工程实施，以便在紧急情况下有效地获取、过滤和传输与任务相关的信息。

Recent seismic calamities in Pakistan (79,000 deaths), China (68,000 deaths), and Haiti (170,000 deaths) have demonstrated the tremendous vulnerability of civil infrastructure, as well as the need for improved emergency response. What is not widely known is that disasters of this magnitude could occur in the USA: recent studies estimate that a major rupture along the New Madrid fault could result in casualties exceeding 70,000 in Tennessee and Missouri alone. Combining techniques from civil engineering, computer science, and neurobiology, this research seeks to transform the effectiveness of emergency response personnel in dealing with such disasters--ensuring rapid assessment of the stability of physical structures, location and rescue of trapped and non-ambulatory victims, identification and provision of emergency medical treatment, and safe evacuation of ambulatory survivors. This research focuses on developing a bio-inspired smart sensing and communications framework for rapid emergency response. The system utilizes enhanced mobile phone technology to create a neurally-informed, sensor-rich, information-processing network. The research builds on the similarities in biological systems and adaptive sensing and communication frameworks. Like biological neurons, each cell phone node has both communication and computation capabilities. Individual nodes are capable of establishing local connections with their neighbors through ad-hoc networking (much as neurons connect with synapses), as well as longer-distance global communication via cell tower infrastructure (similar to diffuse neuromodulatory and neuroendocrine signaling). Cell phones also have a variety of sensor input capabilities (e.g. sound, video, motion sensing, and GPS) that have parallels with the sensory capabilities of biological systems. These analogies facilitate translation of information processing principles from neurobiology to engineering implementations for efficient acquisition, filtering and transmission of task-relevant information in emergency response scenarios.