1

Kin Y. Sze, PhD, SMIEEEIEEE HIC-Ottawa SIGHT Affinity Group

(Project Lead for OS-ARIS)kinsze@ieee.org

IEEE Day 2014October 7, 2014

Project OS-ARIS: An Open Source Avalanche Rescue Imaging System

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

2

OutlineOutline• Introduction

– Objective– MIT OCW: Open source, license type– Applications (OS-ARIS, but to be extended to include OS-DRIS

and OS-FRIS)• Avalanche Disasters in the Under-Privileged Communities

(recent examples)– Himalayas (Nepal), Afghanistan, North Ossetia (Russian village)

• OS-ARIS prototype– Phase I: Reproduce the MIT OCW design (show BoM)– Phase II: Adaptation– Phase III: Add new features/capabilities– Phase IV: Field trials and deployment

• Sustainability– Parts availability and finance– Volunteer team: Different expertise and labor availability

• Conclusions and Demo

3

• Resulting design: Available as an open source design, in accordance with the Creative Commons License requirements of the MIT OCW.

• Applications:– Avalanche rescue (OS-ARIS)– Collapsed building & landslide rescue (OS-DRIS)– Fire rescue (OS-FRIS)

IntroductionIntroduction• Objective:

To improve and adapt the low-cost FMCW radar imaging system from MIT Open Course Ware (OCW) to function as a compact, real-time, radar imaging system for snow avalanche search and rescue operations.

4

Why Choose Avalanche Rescue?Why Choose Avalanche Rescue?

• Most feasible for testing and prototyping• Because of the Canadian climate• Snowpacks as debris media very

inexpensive and easy to handle• Electrical properties of snow are relatively

homogeneous• EM properties of snow are well-

understood

5

Avalanche Disasters in the Avalanche Disasters in the UnderUnder--PrivilegedPrivileged CommunitiesCommunities

(Recent)(Recent)• Himalayas (Nepal), May 2012

(from The Himalayan Times)

• Himalayas (Nepal), May 2012 (from Inside Climate News)

• Afghanistan (northeast), March 2012

• Afghanistan (Salang Pass), February 2010

• Russian village (North Ossetia), September 2002

6

The MIT OCW The MIT OCW DesignDesign(freely available online)(freely available online)

• Fabrication instructions

• Antenna design

• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) experiment

• Modular RF design

7

Block DiagramBlock Diagram(MIT OCW)(MIT OCW)

8

CktCkt. Schematic. Schematic(MIT OCW)(MIT OCW)

9

Lump-Element Ckt

on a breadboard(Tx Module

Only)

10

Antenna Fabrication

11

Wooden Board Fabrication

12

Progress Status

• Volunteer teams– Humanitarian contributions– Technology components– Sharing and learning emphasis– Team work (analogy: many parts but each

contributes to the functioning of single body)• Designs and parts availability

– Open source hardware and software– Affordable (low-cost)– Parts being not obsolete

13

Project Sustainability• Volunteer teams

– Humanitarian contributions– Technology components– Sharing and learning emphasis– Team work (analogy: many parts but each

contributes to the functioning of a single body)

• Designs and parts availability– Open source hardware and software– Affordable (low-cost)

• Current task requests (open and on-going)

14

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

• Active team members:– Kin Sze– Gurpreet Gosal– Hamza Riaz– Julien Girard– Wolfram Lunscher

• Valued contributors:– Alfredo Herrera– Sawsan Abdul-Majid– Sean Campeau– Stéphane Tessier

Acknowledgements

Ramon Maldonado-Basilio for making available some test

equipment

Gregory Charvat et. al. and the MIT OCW, for providing the

design specifications and fabrication

instructions