Internet of Breath (IoB): Integrative Indoor Gas Sensor Applications for Emergency Control and Occupancy Detection

A design framework is proposed in this paper for a new type of the Internet-of-Things technology. We specifically use the term Internet-of-breaths (IoB) which is a wireless sensor network (WSN) for enhancing fire-and-rescue (FRS) operations with real-time information of the air quality and human presence at the proximity of the fire-site. Though IoB can be useful in emergency scenario, IoB would be a useful tool in detecting human occupancy in a confined area. It can estimate approximate head-counts by inferring from the size of the room and the measured CO2 concentration level. Based on the previous experiences of SafetyNET with is a successful project by Loughborough University UK IoB extends the capacity of the SafetyNET sensor with capability of CO2 concentration measurement as an integrative approach. With this new sensing capability, new information such as human occupancy can be measured. By knowing whether and how many people exist in a certain location and its nearby locations, extra intelligence can be obtained in addition to toxic gas, fire severity, etc.; this will great help FRS operations. With the human occupancy information, the proposed research here is to focus on designing and building prototypes of applications that can benefit from knowing the human occupancy in real-time, through the IoB wireless sensing network. Integration of this new information on existing WSN data and systems is investigated. Possibilities of new applications based on human occupancy detection is discussed in the aspects of WSN technology.
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