UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Assignment Cover Sheet – Internal
Name: Nguyen, Vu Ha
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Course code and title: Minor Thesis
School: CIS
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Research Thesis
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School of Computer and Information Science
CIS HONOURS MINOR THESIS
Design and Evaluate: A context-aware computing
application for bushfire firefighters.
Academic Supervisor: David Kearney
Nguyen, Vu Ha
100046971
Nguvh005
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Abstract
Bushfire are the major problems which Australian in past, present and future has been coping
with. Bushfire firefighters are the person who directly deals with the entire bushfire situation.
Currently, the information provided for firefighters in bushfire combat are very limited and hard
to be delivered. Mainly, the devices which they have are just the short-wave radios or mobile
phones used to communicate with each others during the combat. With the new technologies
nowadays, it is possible to develop better context-aware computing used on mobile devices
which support more firefighters during the dangerous bushfire combats.
Based on the information of the past interviews with fire fighters and the research about bushfire
fighting life, the suggestions, particularly for the context-aware computing for firefighter, is that
the context should be included all the information which needed during the fire combat such as
temperature, wind speed, firefighter’s GPS location on the map, overview of the fire and the
communication between firefighters.
The research offers the investigation about background, the methodology of how firefighter is
dealing with the bushfires. And the purpose of proposal also provides the usage scenario and
methodology used to design and implement a best suitable mobile application’s context for
bushfire firefighters which could supports them during the fire combats.
Java language, windows mobile phone and Java based mobile phone are used to design,
implement and test the context for the application.
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Table of Contents
1.
Abstract................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 3
2.
Introduction ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 6
2.1 Motivation ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 7
2.2 Research Method ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................... 8
3.
2.2.1
Sub questions ................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 8
2.2.2
Decision questions ................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 8
Literature Review ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................ 9
3.1 Background ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 9
3.1.1 Research in context-aware computing ................................ ................................ ..................... 9
3.1.2 Research in User Interface................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 16
3.2 The fact ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 18
4.
Research Methodology ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. 19
4.1 Design ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......... 19
4.1.1 Initial User Interface ................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 20
4.2 Implementation ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................ 21
4.2.2 Procedure ................................ ................................ ................................ .............................. 22
4.3 Evaluation ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 22
5.
Timeline ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........ 23
6.
Result ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 24
6.1 System Diagram ................................ ................................ ................................ .......................... 24
6.1.1 Explanation ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................... 25
6.2 User guide ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 26
6.2.1 Client Side (Mobile App) ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 26
6.2.2 Server Side (Web Browser) ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 35
7
Discussion ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 37
7.1 Result ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .......... 37
7.2
Research significance ................................ ................................ ................................ ............. 37
7.3 The method................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 37
8.
Conclusion ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 38
Outcome ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 38
Achievement ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 38
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Limitation and Improvement ................................ ................................ ................................ .............. 39
Limitation ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 39
Improvement ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 39
Future Works ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 39
9.
References ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 41
Appendix 1 - Feedback forms................................ ................................ ................................ ................. 43
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2. Introduction
Bushfire is one of the biggest problems in Australia. Bush fire authorities all over Australia are
increasing seeking answers to these questions:
•
How can we fight a bushfires more effectively?
•
How can we minimise the impacts of bushfires which are too big to fight?
There is one way is to provide better information about the fire to people who are affected. Or
we could say provide better information for fire fighters who directly deals with the fire and
person who living near the fire affected areas.At the current state, when a bushfire happens, all
the information which firefighter could get is from their UHF radios which is unrealisable and
has less number of channels. For the speed, wind direction, temperature and overview of the
bushfire situation, firefighter needs to wait for the advices from Incident Management Team and
regional office. All those information are from an airplane which equipped with an Infrared
Camera fly above the fire and provide the updates to the ground center. These have been done by
a person who is on the plane carrying the camera and describe the fire situation based on his
visual and knowledge. Using the UHF radio for communication between firefighter, sometimes,
becomes almost impossible. Also, with all the information which firefighter provides back to the
Incident management team are out of date and sometimes, they are too busy to do so.
The research’s goal is to develop a context-aware computing for firefighter, so it is important to
understand the concept of context-aware computing. Based on Danny’s definition in 2006:
“Context-aware computing is a computing paradigm in which applications and services can take
advantage of contextual information such as user and device location, state, time of day, nearby
places….” (Danny R. 2006)
And what is context-aware computing used for?
“Context-aware computing is to acquire and utilize information about the context of a device to
provide services that are appropriate to the particular people, place, time, events, etc.” (Thomas
& Paul 2001)
In this research, we aim to evaluate and design and a context-ware computing for bushfire fire
fighters (and members of public if time is available).
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2.1 Motivation
As a firefighter said “Firefighting is making a lot of decisions on little information”.
(Takayama, L. and J. A. Landay 2004) and it is true:


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
The communication by UHF radio is not reliable and it does not have much channels.
Sometimes it is impossible to communicate between each firefighter during the fire
through the UHF radio.
In some situations, firefighters are too busy to exchange their information with the base
therefore the base may not have the updated information to give the best advice to fire
fighter during the fire combat. As the information in fire fighting is very critical so all
information is considered important, so lacking of the reliable information provider, fire
fighter may put themselves into the dangerous situation and may risk their own life.
Another problem is: there is no real-time image available during the fire fighting. It takes
about 24 hours before any image can be seen.
For the members of public, mainly the bushfire notification is via radio broadcasting
which in most cases doesn’t directly notify to the persons who are living near the bushfire
area. Sometime it is a little too late for them.
After an investigation about the bushfire, it is clear that the limitation in communication during
the bushfire is the main reason causes the limitation in providing the information for bushfire
fighter and members of public. So the questions are: how could the bushfire fighter could have
all the information right at their hands. How could members of public be notified right at the
moment the bushfire happens? Here are some suggestions:


Instead of communicating through a limited and unrealisable two way radio and waiting
for the advices from the Incident Management Team, it would be better if firefighter
could have all the real-time information which they need right at their hands during the
firefighting.
Instead of notifying members of public through radio broadcasting, it would be better if
they are directly notified in person and not in passive situation.
So this paper is aimed to design a context-aware computing for fire fighters during the bushfire
fighting then evaluate it with firefighters and members of public. In particularly, this paper
would discuss the way to:



Provide real-time information about the bushfire.
Provide an overview of the fire with the real-time images.
Provide a GPS location of each firefighter on the screen. So firefighter could be able to
keep track on their mates.
And if time is available:
 Provide a bushfire simulation.
 Provide a VoIP communication.
 Provide the notification to the phone owner who is living near the bushfire area.
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2.2 Research Method
The context-aware computing created should be able to assist the firefighter and members of
public during the bushfire. Therefore there is a research question which needed to be considered:
“How can the ideas and research results from context aware mobile computing are applied to the
problem of providing information to bush bushfire fire fighters who might be affected by the
fire”?
2.2.1
Sub questions
The research question could be divided into the smaller sub questions which describe in details
about the research question:
•
•
•
2.2.2
What type of information can we provide?
This question allows us to decide, what information that we could deliver using the
current technologies
How should it be presented?
As it is designed for firefighter as the main purpose, so what should it be presented so
firefighter could be able to read and use it during the bushfire fighting?
What underlying technologies are best able to provide the most widely available
coverage? And what type of devices could be used?)
This question helps us to decide which technologies could be used to achieve the
proposed context-awareness for bushfire fire fighters. (Note: the bushfire is always
happens in the area where the coverage of normal mobile network is limited.
Decision questions
Beside the research question, there are also some decision-questions which we need to answer
before starting the research.
•
•
•
•
•
What programming language will be used to design the context-awareness?
Java 2 micro edition (J2ME) will be used to implement the user interface on the mobile
device. The Java 2 wireless/NetBeans IDE toolkit will be used as well.
Client-embedded or Browser based application?
The initial design application will be a client-embedded. However, later on, the browserbased application could be considered as an extra option.
What is the screen size of the mobile device which presents the context?
Ideally, the screen size will be between 2.7” to 3”.
What technology used to locate the user?
Global Positioning System (GPS), using GPS coordinates.
What devices will be supported?
Java- enabled phones.
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3. Literature Review
3.1 Background
The term of “context-aware computing”was first introduced by Schilit in 1994 in IEEEWorkshop
on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications. And later on, Dey defines the context-aware
computing as “any information that can be used to characterise the situation of entities". In 2001,
Thomas and Paul also describes it as“Context-aware computing is to acquire and utilize
information about the context of a device to provide services that are appropriate to the
particular people, place, time, events, etc.”. However, there are 2 main ways to define the
definition of context-aware computing.
Bill Schilit (1994), he defines the context-aware computing by putting it into four categories:

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Proximate selection: a user-interface technique which in this, the objects are
concentrated in or “made easier” to choose from.
Automatic contextual reconfiguration: process of adding, removing the components,
alerting the connection between components due to context changes.
Contextual information and commands: can provide different results based on the
context “in which they are issued”
Context-triggered action: simple IF-Then rule which based on that context-aware
system know how to adapt.
But in 2000, Guanling Chen and David Kotz (2000), in Department of Computer Science at
Dartmouth College, discuss about the Context-aware computing paradigm which a mobile
application can achieve all the contextual information about user location, time, nearby
people…. Particularly, in this research, authors discussed deeply about types of context used and
models of context information and define context-aware computing by providing two definitions:


Active context awareness: an application changes its behaviours automatically to adapt to
the discovered context.
Passive context awareness: an application presents the context which is keep updating to
user and allowing user to retrieve later.
This research is suitable for person who wants to understand more and use the Context-aware
computing paradigm. This paper is such a guideline which based on it; other researchers could
have ideas about the difficulties and possible solutions of Context-aware computing paradigm
which all of these could be applied into designing an User Interface for Mobile devices.
3.1.1 Research in context-aware computing
In this section, we discuss about some of past researches about context-aware computing area.
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Shopping Assistant
Shopping Assistantis a device which guides the customers through store: provides the
information about items, location, price analysis, automatically recognise customer (regular or
new)… etc. All the information about customer and then later save into the server, so next time
when the customer come back, server will be able to recognise them and serve them right. Based
on Guanling and David’s definition, this system is an active context where it displays the
Customer’s location within the store. The system includes 2 main components: a Personal
Shopping Assistant (PSA) and a Centralized server.
A hand-held wireless communications device: the PSA that the customer is provided. The
PSA will communicate with aCentralized server located in the shopping. Server has tasks to
“maintain the customer database, the store database and provides audio/visual responses to
inquiries from tens to hundreds of customers in real-time over a small area wireless network.”
(Abhaya A., Mark C., and Paul K. 1994)
The figure above is a diagram about Shopping Assistant network. RF nodes which allow PSA
connects to server will be put on the ceiling of shopping center. Each customer will be provided
a PSA. PSA will guide the customer through the store with relevant information. Customer’s
location also is kept track, if customer want to have a look at a particular item, PSA will provide
the direction and analysis about that item.
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CyberGuide
CyberGuideis developed byAlbrecht Schmidt in 1999. The project aims to provide information
services to tourists about their locations, directions, finding the location’s background, leave the
comment on interactive map and suggesting the places of interest. Travel diary is also provided
for tourist.
CyberGuide’s services include 4 components:




Cartographer (mapping): is the person who could provide all the information about the
location of the building in campus, the favorite views of building, and the location which
visitors could access and so on. This component is realized in CyberGuide as map of
physical environments that visitors want to access.
Librarian (information): is the person who could provide all the descriptions about the
building, people in the area. The librarian also answers the enquiries from visitors. This
component is realized in CyberGuide as information related to objects, people of
interest….
Navigator (positioning): displays the interests which closes to the tourist’s location. This
component in the system displays all the relevant information and provides the
orientation for tourist.
Messenger(communication): provides the communication between tourist and people in
campus.
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The figure above is the user interface of CyberGuide. Left part is the map which allows user to
navigate. The right part is information about the object.CyberGuide will be able to install on
mobile or laptop.
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Campus Aware
This is a similar research which concentrates to guide the visitor during the campus visiting as
well. Jenna B., Geri K G., Kiyo K., Nick F. (2002) present the “Campus Aware” providing a
campus tour guide for visitors which detects their locations and display the relevant information
about those locations. The application could be installed on PDA or PC. Author suggests the way
to could collect the feedback of user while they are using it by creating a list which user could
choose one of the feedbacks from there.
Here is the User Interface of the application which installed on PALM which includes the notes
about each location.
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Firefighter Monitor Compact Device
Kremens, R., J. Faulring, et al. (2007) discuss about developing “a compact device to Monitor
and Report Firefighter Health, Location, and Status.”
The diagram is show inside structure of proposed device. It has small size (12.5 x 17.5 x 5 cm)
and very light weight (~500 gram). Using AA batteries and allow the GPS receiver connects into
it. The fire fighter health status (Heart rate, body temp, motion…) also are kept track by the
device. The device connects to a wireless network by an external antenna and sends back all
those information to base. The locations of firefighters also are tracked with long and lat
coordinate. However, the research is to develop hardware rather than a system like this research.
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Multimodal Communication System
Chen, F. (2006) has done an evaluation about the communication of firefighters during the fire
combat. And with all the limitations of current firefighting prototype, author proposed a new
prototype of equipment which could provide more information for the firefighters. Based on all
the interviews with the firefighters and using user-centered processing methodology, author
collects all the information about things needed to be included in a User Interface of PDA looklike device which is specially designed for firefighter during the firefighting.
In particularly, Chen discovered the limitations during the firefighting such as no visual
information of the site, no feedback on the line, missing information, different radio apparatus….
Too many different radio apparatus
To fix all of those, author introduces a new prototype system which could delivery “speech
commands for radio communication”, “accessing and navigating among the database” and
“command for video document and speech dictation”. This project is still in early stage therefore
it still leaves quite some of possible research questions to be answered. This project is about to
design not only the software but the hardware as well. It might be very complicated and hard to
compile.
A Situation-Aware Mobile System to Support Fire Brigades in Emergency Situations
Luyten, K., F. Winters, et al. (2006) from Hasselt University – Belgium, discuss about a mobile
service that offers a role based context User Interface. It provides the overall view of the
emergency situation. The User Interface is considered as an important factor in this service as the
authors propose a User Interface design which is usable by “fat finger” which allow firefighters
to interact the User Interface with his gloves on. This article is suitable for person who want to
develop an User Interface for firefighter which helps them to overview the situation and able to
use the mobile device during the fire. The paper shows with the assistant from mobile
technology, it would significant helps the firefighting job become easier.
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3.1.2 Research in User Interface
User interface is one of the most important factors when designing a computer-awareness
system. Therefore, beside all the researches about the hardware and software relating to the
computer-awareness systems, we also need to discuss a little bit further more about the User
Interface which we would use to compile our own system. With all these papers, we would be
able to see all the limitation and possibilities in the UI world.
Mobile contexts with User-Interface Modelling
Eisenstein, J. and J. Vanderdonckt, et al. (2000), researchers at RedWhale Software Corporation,
Town and Country Village Suite 273-277, Palo Alto, CA, discuss about three proposals model
base techniques which help User Interface designers who are working in Mobile computing.
With these techniques, developers are allowed to design the User Interfaces across all the
platforms while still working well with each platform. These models also allows designed to
correct or cope with all difficulties during the User Interface designing process. This paper is
suitable for Mobile User Interface designer which with these, they could save a lot of time in
designing process. The idea is that designing an User Interface once and use anywhere.
Mobile Device UI Design
Fling, B. in 2006, outlines all the current possible problem which happens with User Interface
design for Mobile devices such as mobile phone or small devices. He shows that even the beset
User Interface still use the convention of interaction from the Personal computer’s desktop rather
than creating an unique UI for mobile devices user easily to interact with. He also agrees with the
idea “opting for task-based simplicity over the more geeky features and options”. The article is
useful for person who wants to know about the current User Interface design problem for mobile
device such as mobile phone or pocket PC. Although with the great User interface discussions
which includes the concern about the mobile device functionalities, the target users, Input/output
and hardware, author still forget to mention about the barriers for mobile UI design regarding
about the Operation system used in mobile devices (as there are 3 mains OS with different
prototypes: Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian OS).
An iterative approach for mobile User Interface
Hussain, Z., M. Lechner, et al. (2008) at Graz University of Technology, Institute for Software
Engineering, use the Agile methodology to design and develop an User Interface for a mobile
application. By using this methodology, authors build up an User Interface from process: design,
test, design and test which means every time the User Interface is done, it would be brought to
test by users, based on the feedback from users, the User Interface will be modified to meet with
the requirement. This process is a loop until the user satisfies with the User Interface. This is an
one of the best ways to design the User Interface, with this methodology, the product will be
guaranteed to be satisfied by users. However, this is very time-consuming and costly; therefore
there should be an analysis always before deciding to use this methodology
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A visualization design repository for mobile devices
Paelke, V., C. Reimann, Et al. (2003) at University of Paderborn and Siemens, C-LAB Visual
Interactive Systems Group, describe the current user interface for mobile are lacking of
“standardized visualization techniques and interaction mechanisms and the absence of related
component libraries and style guides.” Therefore, the research is about to create a new
visualization design repository for mobile so developers could access it and find the way to
design an effective User Interface design for their mobile application. This research is very good
for person who is interested into designing the User Interface for mobile application but don’t
know which design is good. This research show an interesting idea about creating a huge design
repository for mobile devices but it could be only successful if the developers would share their
information with others.
Mobile-context in urban area
Tamminen, S., A. Oulasvirta, et al. (2003) at Information Ergonomics Research Group
(SoberIT), Helsinki University of Technology – Finland and Helsinki Institute of Information
Technology, discuss about the challenge of mobile-context in urban area. In this paper, authors
present the study of 25 urbanites in Helsinki, and provide the information about the navigation,
multitasking, and design problems for mobile and context-aware interaction and the solution for
these. This paper is suitable for person who wants to understand more about the mobile contextawareness at urban area and it’s useful also for studying about the mobile context-awareness for
bushfire area.
Mobile: user-centered interface building
Puerta, A. R., E. Cheng, et al. (1999) discussed about the User Interface builder which is mainly
used for developer-centered and it doesn’t support the user-centered interface design. In this
paper, authors present a new Mobile user-centered interface building tool which supports usercentered design and guides the building interface process “using user-task models and a
knowledge base of interface design guidelines”. This paper also is very useful for developer who
is interested into designing the user interface which is user-centered interface design. In
summary, the authors show a significant change of the way designing Mobile User Interface
using user-centered interface design tool.
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3.2 The fact
Through some of existing research about context-aware computing field, we could say there are
not many of them which have done the research to improve the way firefighter dealing with fire
fighting. However we could reapply some researches which include some part that needed for
our system: such as the location of user. But there are still many things that we need to do more
before we could develop a completed system for firefighter such as the message system, the
bushfire mapping and so on. We also propose a system which doesn’t involve in developing
hardware. We try to develop a system which could be used on available hardware in the market.
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4. Research Methodology
The research is about to design and evaluate a context-aware computing for fire fighter.
Therefore the proposed methodology is included three parts: Design, Implement and Evaluate.
The design part is about to design the user interface for system which will be used by firefighter.
Implementation part shows how to set up the system and run it successfully. And finally, the
evaluation is about testing the context-aware computing with firefighter.
4.1 Design
To provide the bush fire fighting context, it is important to understand what it is the context in
bush firefighting. Particularly in this case, they are the current location of firefighters, location of
other mates, wind information, temperature… So in this part, we discuss about how the user
interface should be included and looks like. Information in the User Interface should be enough
but not too much as the User Interface would be used on mobile devices which has small screen.
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4.1.1 Initial User Interface
This is the initial user interface. It might be changed after the evaluation with firefighters. All the
information in the user interface is based on the investigation of fire fighting. The user interface
includes three sections.
First Section (Fire Description)
In this section, all the relevant information about the fire would be included.

Latitude (Lat): A position's distance north or south of the equator, (measured by degrees)
from zero to 90. One minute of latitude equals one nautical mile.
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
Longitude (Long): The distance east or west of the prime meridian (measured in degrees).
The prime meridian runs from the north to South Pole through Greenwich, England.
The Lat and Long information will be extracted from a GPS (Global Positioning System) built in
the mobile device. With this information, the firefighters and Incident Management Team could
know extract their current locations during the fire fighting.


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

Temperature: displays the current temperature around the firefighters. The temperature will
be detected by a smart dust mote. (Beside the temperature, smart dust mote could also detect
the toxicity)
Approximate fire area: display the current affected area. This information will be provided
by Incident Management Team.
Wind speed: displays the speed of wind
Heading: the direction of wind.
Estimated area: estimated area affected area after 1 hour. (This information is optional as
the fire simulation is involved in this.)
All these information then will be sent back to server. From there, server will collect all the
information of firefighters and broadcast back to firefighter (location other firefighters, fire area,
map…)
Second Section (Map)
This section displays the current location of firefighters.


Each firefighter’s location is represented by the dots on the map.
The fire affected area also will be displayed on the map and indicated by red color.
Third section (Message)
This section provides an alerting message box which displays the important messages such as
wind changes, temperature rises, required actions….With the preset IF-Then rules in the system,
in some cases, messages will display automatically. Such as system detects the temperature is
over safety limitation, it will ask the firefighters to abandon the area.)
This section is the answer for our research questions: what information should be provided and
how they will be presented?
4.2 Implementation
In this part, we will describe step by step how to set up and run the system. Devices required in
this process are: GPS phones, Java implemented Client and Server application
•
GPS phones or Phone connected to GPS external will be used to collect all the
coordinates’ data.
•
A Client and Server application which is written in Java language will handle all data
exchange between users and server.
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4.2.2 Procedure
Trial server is setup and put online. Clients connect to server through wireless network with high
gain antenna. (Clients and server could communicate with each other using high speed NextG
network and devices). Server collects all the data from clients, analysis those and broadcast to all
the clients. Some information will be manually input in server side.
Users enter the high temperature environment. Sensor attaches with devices will monitor the
temperature and display on the screen. All other relevant information should also be display on
the screen. Users move around and check their locations on screen. Dangerous high temperature
detected, message board will automatically display the relevant messages which will advise the
user what should to be done.
This is the basic diagram about how the client and server communicate to each other. Client will
send the information to server. Depend on what information, server will broadcast back to all
clients about that information.
This section will give the answer for the question: what technology we should use?
4.3 Evaluation
As we design a context-aware computing for firefighter so it is important to make sure that it is
accepted by firefighters. Therefore, this part is about testing the context-aware computing with
firefighter.
To do this, we will conduct a survey and evaluate the system based on this survey. The testing
location will be Country Fire Service office. Amount of devices will be provided to the random
firefighters and allow them to play around with the application. A feedback form also will be
designed to collect all the possible feedback from firefighters (such as ease to use, information,
user interface…etc.). Please refer to Appendix 1 to see the forms.
In particular, the prototype of this research will be evaluated by 2 groups: User Interface expert
(to audit the User Interface) and Bushfire firefighters (to test the prototype).
All the feedback then will be analysed and changes will be made if needed.
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5. Timeline
This part will discuss about the timeline for this project. The Microsoft Project Management
software will be used to do the timeline when the research starts. But basically, the timeline will
be as follow:
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



In middle of September: the User Interface will be completely designed.
In the end of September: the User Interface and system will be implemented using Java 2
Micro Edition.
In middle of October: The survey will be conducted and feedback will be collected at
Country Fire Server office.
In the end of October, after all the data are collected by survey, the modification if
needed will be implemented for the User Interface and the system.
In the beginning of November, the completed system will be conducted and fully tested.
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6. Result
6.1 System Diagram
Google
Map Server
Sends the
current location
to
Returns the
current map
Phone Emulator

Symbian OS

J2ME language

Screen

Internet Connectivity

Built-in GPS
Server
Http GET – Sends long and lat
parameters via URL
Http POST set of long and lat
(JSON Object)

Java Servlet Engine

Glass Fish

JSON Object
(location info)
Submits the wind
speed, number of
fighters
Sends the
JSON Object
Displays on
Webpage Browser

JavaScript

HTML

Overall display
Screen

Firefighter
Locations

Wind Speed

Affected area
Sends the
current location
to
Returns the
current map
Google
map Server
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6.1.1 Explanation
There are two parts in this system: Client (Mobile device) and Central Server (Web browser).
Mobile client will communicate with Central Server using Http GET and POST method. JSON
(JavaScript object Notation) objects also are used in the commination.
Mobile Client side
The program in client side is written in Java 2 Micro Edition and run on Nokia N97 phone(using
Symbian OS) which has the built-in GPS. Screen of the phone is big enough to display all the
required information (location info, wind speed, affected area).
Client needs the internet connectivity to access to the Google Map Server.
Server Side
Server side program is written in JavaScript/HTML and also has the Servlet engine (using Glass
Fish 3) running behind to obtain the information (long and lat) of the each firefighter. Server will
display the overall scene of fire fighting (number of firefighters, location, and affected area) and
also submit all the required information.
Server as well requires to access to the Google Map Server via internet.
Testing Scenario
1) When the fire happens, all the fire fighters will be handed the phones with “Fire Fighter
tracker” program running on it.
2) Fire truck station will establish a local network (internet accessible).
3) Incident Management Officer will open the Firefighter Monitoring Screen and trigger the
server running.
4) All the phones will automatically connect to it. While displaying the current location of fire
fighter, the phone also sends all its own location to the base (which is Incident Management
server).
5) The Server base will receive all the current locations of each firefighter and display the
whole bushfire firefighting scene on the screen which includes:
a) Number of firefighter
b) Current locations of all firefighters
c) Affected area.
6) On the monitoring screen, Incident Management officer who monitors the firefighting
situation will send the information about temperature, wind speed to all firefighters
a. Current Temp: 100 degree
b. Wind speed: 80 km/h
c. Press “Send to Fire Fighters”
7) Each firefighter will receive those information and display on the screen as Temp: 100 and
W/Speed: 80
8) As the fire is too dangerous, Incident Management Officer decides to call off the bush
firefighting. He/She will press “Abandon The Area” button
9) All the firefighters receive the Abandon message then abort the firefighting.
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6.2 User guide
6.2.1 Client Side (Mobile App)
The program was tested on the Nokia N97 emulator (platform Symbian 60). In this case, we need two
users - mobile user and server side user.
Start the Phone; click the CFS program on the home screen of the Nokia N97
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Run the program – welcome screen, press any key or wait for 10 seconds to process
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Connect phone to the Wi-Fi Server
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Program displays the current location of user (Not yet connected to the Server)
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Option menu allows user to Zoom In, Zoom out and view the real images through the Satellite
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Satellite view of the map
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Picture of the program (program displays the positions of all Fire Fighter)
Note: Blue marker represents the current location of user
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When the “Abandon the area” message is sent from Base (Server)
Features:
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
Providing the current location (in Longitude and Latitude) of the firefighter (user) – blue marker.

Providing the real satellite images of fire area.



Displaying the current temperature, wind speed information.
Displaying the current location of other firefighters.
Providing the visual of the fire are (This function requires Google Map Enterprise License to be
able to work on the mobile device).
Display the “Abandon” message from base.
Allowing zooming in or zooming out the map.


NOTE
As this program uses the free Google Map edition, the number of map requests will be limited (this will
not happen with the Enterprise License edition which needs to be purchased). When the quota is reached,
this image will be displayed.
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6.2.2 Server Side (Web Browser)
Server side is used to monitor all the firefighting activities. Start the Server by opening the Index.jsp file
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Current Temp: displays the current degree (in C)
Number of Fire Fighter(s): displays the number of Fire Fighters
Wind speed: displays the wind speed (in km/h)
: Markers represent the locations of Firefighters.
: The Fire Area (affected area).
: Enter the Temperature and Wind speed and press “Send to Fire fighters” to
send all those info to Firefighters.
: Emergency button to ask Firefighters to abandon the area.
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Features:







Providing a live firefighting situation.
Providing the locations of each firefighter.
Providing the visual of the fire area.
Providing the real satellite images of fire area.
Automatically zoom in or zoom out to be able to display all the firefighters’ locations.
Allowing sending the temperature, wind speed information to all firefighters.
Providing the Emergency button to call off the firefighting if the situation is too
dangerous for firefighters.
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7 Discussion
7.1 Result
To be able to test the program we need the device which does have the built-in GPS. One critical
thing is that the phone screen should be big enough to be able to display all the information of
the program. In this case, we decided to choose N97 as our testing device for this program.
As we can see in the result section, both devices display all the information (most of these
information are fed from the server). Each device displays the information about:
Its current location (GPS data): Lat: 23.85; Long: 61.45
Temperature:100 degrees
Wind Speed: 80 km/h
The GPS data are extracted from the built-in GPS device in the phone.
The server side displays all the activities of firefighting.
7.2 Research significance
Bushfire has some critical information which is different from other ordinary fires such as the
affected area, the wind speed, the temperature or the heading…. In the Literature Review, we
could see although all of the existing projects do provide the information about the location
awareness, status of firefighter but none of them did provide the live graphical image (which
provide a exact look of the affected area while fighter are battling with the bush fire and the
location of their fighter mates). This program also provides all the live interaction between
firefighters and their based (through the message system).With this information, bushfire fighter
will be safer and more “keep in touch” with their mates and base like never before.
7.3 The method
The method used to obtain the data in this project was mostly based on the data of the surveys
from users. Some researches also have been done to make sure that the program is user-friendly,
easy- to-use and effective. The method has successfully delivered the key factors to the success
of this program. However, this method needed a huge amount of time and labor which in this
project were very limited.
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8. Conclusion
The main goal for the research is to provide a better context-aware computing for bushfire
fighter during the fire combat. In particularly, it will provide a better and easier way for fire
fighter to get all the information they need to make a decision during the fire. Based on this
research, some further researches could be done such as:
Outcome
The research provides the expected outcomes:



A completed design for User Interfaces based on the survey and bushfire fighter’s
requirements.
A completed web-based monitoring server for Incident Management team.
A completed client/server which allows user to connect and exchange the data.
The research also has answered the question: “How can the ideas and research results from
context aware mobile computing are applied to the problem of providing information to bush
bushfire fire fighters and members of the public who might be affected by the fire”?
The program provide all the critical information which needed for bushfire fighters and members
of the public such as
• What type of information can we provide?
GPS location, temperature, area, wind speed and heading.
• How should it be presented?
All the information is put into a big screen (2.7”)
• What underlying technologies are best able to provide the most widely available
coverage? And what type of devices could be used?)
Wireless network is used in this case and Symbian 60 platform Nokia devices are used to
test the program.
With this program, the objective for the research has been successfully achieved and will be
tested widely later on.
Achievement
The objective of this project is to provide a better solution for the firefighters during the bush fire
fighting. The program obviously provides more information for bush firefighters than the
existing program.
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Limitation and Improvement
Limitation
There are some limitations during the implementation which need to be considered during the
research such as:
 As a one year project, so time is also a key factor in this project. The implementation had to
be done within one semester. Therefore some features will not be able to be implemented
(Such as voice over the phone and base – VoIP, temperature sensor – more about the
hardware part than software)
 It would be better if the screen of mobile phone bigger. As that result, some information are
not able to display on the program.
 The budget for the project is limited. However, GPS mobile phones or NextG mobile phone
are fairly expensive phones and we couldn’t afford at the moment. Without the phone, it was
extremely hard to test the software.
 The co-operation from Country Fire Service would also be considered as this is one of the
most important factors which decide the research is successful or not.(whether they are
willing to test the new system or not?)
 Wi-Fi network may be not reliable.
 As this program uses the free Google map edition, there is a limitation of number of the
requests that this program could do. It is recommended that the Google map Enterprise
License is purchased (However it is quite expensive) to prevent the limitation.
Improvement
There are some improvements are done during the implementation of this project:
 A Web-based program is implemented for Incident Management officers. This will allow
officer to easily visual the whole firefighting situation.
 An emergency button also is implemented in the program so the officer from Incident
Management base could be able to quickly ask all the fire fighters to abandon the affected
area.
 Allowing sending the temperature, wind speed information to all firefighters.
Future Works
The research, if finished, could be used to apply for the public by adding some feature such as:



Registered mobile phone owner get notification when the bushfire happens. To be able to do
this, we may setup an online website which users could go there and registered their phone
with the nominated location. System will then save all the phone number and automatically
send a notification when the bushfire happens to users who have the location near the
bushfire. The provided information is similar with firefighters but the idea is “less but
enough information”.
Also, if time is permitted, the idea of setting up a web-based application would be an option
for person who doesn’t want to install program on their phones.
Program will provide more accurate fire affected area.
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



Voice over IP will be used in the program.
Program will be tested widely and some improvement will be added later on.
Program would be able to run without internet connectivity (offline mode).
Program would use its own data map or licensed map.
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9. References
[1] Abhaya A., Mark C., and Paul K..“An indoor wireless system for personalized shopping
assistance.” In Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications,
pages 69-74, Santa Cruz, California,December 1994. IEEE Computer Society Press.
[2] Bill Schilit, Norman Adams, and Roy Want.Context-aware computing applications. In
Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications, pages 85-90,
Santa Cruz, California, December 1994. IEEE Computer Society Press.
[3]Chen, F. (2006). "Designing Multimodal Communication System for Firefighters."
Gothenburg papers in theoretical linguistics: 167-177.
[4] Chen, G. and D. Kotz (2000), “A Survey of Context-Aware Mobile Computing Research”,
Technical Report TR2000-381, Dept. of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, November
2000.
[5] Dey, Anind K. (2001). "Understanding and Using Context".Personal Ubiquitous Computing5
(1): 4-7. doi:10.1007/s007790170019.
[6]Eisenstein, J., J. Vanderdonckt, et al. (2000). "Adapting to Mobile Contexts with UserInterface Modeling." Third IEEE Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications:
83-92.
[7]Fling, B. (2006). Mobile Device UI Design. blue - flavor: Design and Development for Web +
Mobile. 2006
[8]Hussain, Z., M. Lechner, et al. (2008). User Interface Design for a Mobile Multimedia
Application: An Iterative Approach. Advances in Computer-Human Interaction, 2008 First
International Conference on.
[9]Tamminen, S., A. Oulasvirta, et al. (2003). "Understanding Mobile Contexts." HumanComputer Interaction With Mobile Devices and Services: 5th International Symposium, Mobile
Hci 2003, Udine, Italy, September 8-11, 2003: Proceedings.
[10] Takayama, L. and J. A. Landay (2004). "Siren: Context-Aware Computing for Firefighting."
Pervasive Computing: Second International Conference, Pervasive 2004, Linz/Vienna, Austria,
April 18-23, 2004: Proceedings.
[11] Kremens, R., J. Faulring, et al. (2007), "A Compact Device to Monitor and Report
Firefighter Health, Location, and Status." 8 the International Wildland Fire Safety Summit: 2628.
[12]Luyten, K., F. Winters, et al. (2006). "A Situation-Aware Mobile System to Support Fire
Brigades in Emergency Situations." LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE 4278: 1966.
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[13] Moran, T. P. and P. Dourish (2001). "Introduction to This Special Issue on Context-Aware
Computing."Human-Computer Interaction 16(2, 3 & 4): 87-95.
[14]Paelke, V., C. Reimann, Et al. (2003). "A visualization design repository for mobile
devices." Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Computer graphics, virtual Reality,
visualisation and interaction in Africa: 57-62.
[15]Puerta, A. R., E. Cheng, et al. (1999). "MOBILE: user-centered interface building."
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: the CHI is the
limit: 426-433.
[16] Schilit, B.N. and Theimer, M.M. (1994). "Disseminating Active Map Information to Mobile
Hosts". IEEE Network8 (5): 22–32. doi:10.1109/65.313011.
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Appendix 1 - Feedback forms
List of questionnaires for users to evaluate the program
2. 1 Multiple choice questions (Choose one)
2.1.1 Mobile user
Is the information provided clear to see?
Yes
No
Is the information provided easy to understand?
Yes
No
Is the screen of the phone big enough for you?
Yes
No
Were you able to receive all the information sent from (Firefighter Monitor Server) such as
Temperature, Wind Speed?
Yes
No
Is the program easy to use?
Yes
No
Were you able to locate your position during the simulation?
Yes
No
Would you suggest that the program could improve the current bushfire fighting situation?
Yes
No
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2.1.2 Server side user (Firefighter Monitor Server)
Is the information provided clear to see?
Yes
No
Is the information provided easy to understand?
Yes
No
Is the map big enough for you?
Yes
No
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Were you able to receive all the information about the Firefighters (Number of firefighter, location of
firefighters)?
Yes
No
Is the program easy to use?
Yes
No
Were you able to send the information to the Firefighters?
Yes
No
Would you suggest that the program could improve the current bushfire fighting situation?
Yes
No
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2.2 Short answer questions
What other information do you think that this program should include?
Would you use this program for your bushfire fighting? Please explain your answer if possible.
What error(s) did you encounter during the test?
What do you suggest to improve the program?
Thanks for your participation!
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