A New Rapid Sensor Deployment Approach for First Responders

This paper introduces a new approach for selecting the location of Radio Frequency (RF) sensors used for detecting objects in a building. It is assumed that a building, its map and its main building materials are given. A number of moving or static objects, carrying RF tags are to be detected in this building. RF sensors are used to detect the tags. The time interval between the moment that the building information (map, etc.) become available and the moment that the detection must start is very short, perhaps less than 15 minutes. In this short duration of time, two problems are of interest and must be solved. First, the number and the deploy ment locations of sensors must be computed. Second, the detection procedure that uses the data from the deployed sensors must be developed. We present two algorithms to solve the stated problems. Our results from real world tests are satisfactory and show that the developed methods have the potential to be used by first responders such as police and firemen in detecting their indoor crews in the event of fire and other threats.