I have successfully finished the first part of the project, that is the image processing. This is still a bit crude with an error rate of about +/- 2 people. This can be improved with much more advanced techniques. However, for now I am keeping this as is because it won't affect the next stage of the project significantly.

Other than that, I've been writing my first report "Inception Report". This is includes, an introduction to the project, the motivation behind it, previous research in the field and what I plan to design & implement. Unfortunately I cannot publish this report once finished for reasons of not having permission to publish it from the research group, I don't want to risk plagiarism because I don't want others copying me and then this showing up as me copying them and also apparently even if I use material from my previous work I have to cite it :s.

Anyway, hopefully I will be able to upload some results to show you people. Do get in touch with me if you have questions or want to know more.

Thank you.

Project Title: Leveraging sensor network for monitoring of Fire outbreaks and aiding in evacuation

Set-up: A model office set up with various functional rooms. Set of networked sensors include fire monitors, heat sensors and Infra-Red Cameras.

Objective: Design and implement intelligent solution aiding an evacuation of the office building in an event of a fire. The solution should provide a fastest and safest route out of the building for the occupants. Sensors provide information about the situation on a periodic basis which is used in calculating the best exit route.

Methodology:

• Divide Office space in to zones
• Estimate the number of occupants of the office building
• Basic image processing with input from an IR Camera
• Monitoring of any fire events to trigger evacuation plan
  
• Use of wireless heat/fire sensors.
• Consider available escape routes for the office
  
• Design and Implementation of algorithm to guide occupants to the safe exits.
  
• Algorithm to take into consideration Hazards (fire/smoke) and concentration of occupants per zone and on exit routes