Accidents with many injured people are always a challenge for rescue, police and fire brigade. Who does what at the right time? Who manages and coordinates the incident? Accidents in places that are difficult to access - such as in a tunnel - are even more difficult to manage. Austria is a tunnel country, with many road and railway tunnels. According to Asfinag, there are currently 166 road tunnels in Austria - which puts Austria in second place in Europe behind Italy. This makes it all the more important to ensure safety in tunnels. In the event of an accident or fire in the tunnel, it is important to react quickly. When people are trapped or injured, every second counts - and the emergency services should be on top of their game. Coordinated deployment of the fire brigade, rescue services and police is the top priority.
AIT has years of experience and know-how in the field of Extended Reality (XR), especially in the area of training for different professional groups. "We see XR as a central element in preparing emergency forces for their everyday work and complex situations in a targeted and innovative way," emphasises AIT researcher Helmut Schrom-Feiertag from the Center for Technology Experience. In the MED1stMR project, led by the AIT Center for Technology Experience, a mixed reality solution is being developed for emergency paramedics to train in complex accidents in a virtual environment as a team. A total of 18 partners from nine countries are involved in MED1stMR, including seven different international medical response organisations/training centres from all over Europe. A major field test is currently underway as part of the project: Emergency organisations from all over Europe are testing the MED1stMR prototype and giving feedback on how to optimise the training. www.med1stmr.eu
The NIKE MED project (funded by the KIRAS programme), led by the ZAB (Zentrum am Berg) of the Montanuniversität Leoben, aims to evaluate emergency capacities together with the Med Uni Graz, Mindconsole GmbH, the University of Innsbruck - Institute of Psychology, the Federal Ministry of Defence, IL - Ingenieurbüro Laabmayr & Partner ZT GmbH and DCNA (Disaster Competence Network Austria) and to develop an application for all emergency forces involved in emergencies in order to conduct a disaster operation underground or in a tunnel in a coordinated and professional manner. in the tunnel in a coordinated and professional manner. In this way, the emergency medical care of the injured is to be optimised in the future. www.kiras.at/gefoerderte-projekte/detail/nikemed
The aim now is to benefit from the experience of both research projects and to improve the technologies even further. To this end, a large-scale emergency exercise will be held on 16 September 2023 to better prepare first responders for real-life operations. Johanniter Austria, the Inzersdorf volunteer fire brigade and the Gleinalm police will train together in the underground facilities of the Zentrum am Berg in the tunnels of the Styrian Erzberg.
You can find more information in the press release.