Emergency managementNew surveillance technologies for improved emergency management

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and partners at the University of California, San Diego are working together to design and build resilient streaming sensor networks for emergency response such as bushfires.

As part of Fire Action Week, an international seminar was held at the University of Melbourne looking at how researchers are responding directly to the needs of fire-fighters to enable them to work more effectively.

Professor Bill Moran, research director of the Defense Science Institute (DSI), a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Australia’s Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) believes the emergency services sector can significantly improve the availability of critical information better to manage incidents by exploiting new and emerging surveillance strategies.

“Traditional areas, which have informed the sector such as Defense and Environmental Monitoring are rapidly evolving. However, other areas such as Social Networking and logistics offer significant promise. We are looking at how surveillance with new technologies can reduce the likelihood of major emergencies. Collaborative research is also examining how to manage effective responses during an event and how to best mitigate the impacts after an event,” he said.

A University of Melbourne release reports that the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission, called after the Black Saturday fires of February 2009, noted there was a need for more “forward-looking research.”

Dr. Allison Kealy, a senior lecturer in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering said progress was being made in disaster management.

“Work is being done to improve the state of IT facilities for emergency services. Our micro-sensor networks are one such program and are proving to be resilient. They provide vital and timely intelligence from manned and unmanned points,” she said.