València, 16 February 2023.- Robots with gas sensors or specialised in transporting material, drones with thermal cameras or waistcoats for emergency teams with vital signs monitoring… are some of the innovative technologies that have been tested this morning in an emergency situation in the Port of Valencia. The Clock Building and the adjoining esplanade hosted a demonstration of the RESPOND-A project, an initiative that aims to improve the information management systems of emergency team professionals by combining different cutting-edge technologies.
The aim of this event, which was organised by Fundación Valenciaport and the València Local Police, with the collaboration of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), was to demonstrate and validate the use of one of the tools developed within the framework of the project in the port area: a 5-level communication architecture that facilitates the exchange of information between the rescue teams and the advanced command centre.
The pilot consisted of a simulation of a collision between two tankers with dangerous goods, which resulted in a suspected fire and a possible spill in the water. Then, it was demonstrated how to deal with this emergency by testing various tools such as drones with 4K cameras, 360º video, ground robots with thermal and video cameras, waistcoats for the emergency teams with vital signs monitoring, personal cameras for the rescue teams, augmented reality, etc. The images and data from all these tools have been centralised and integrated into a system that acts as an advanced command centre, carrying out all these communications with 5G technologies.
The day before the demonstration, a training session was held for the rescue teams to teach them how to use the tools necessary to carry out the pilot by means of practical exercises and a serious game.
Thanks to this exercise, the technologies developed during the project have been validated to complement the current self-protection plans in and around the Port in contingency scenarios, disaster mitigation, as well as search and rescue of people.
The RESPOND-A project is an initiative co-funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 programme, with an amount of more than 7 million euros for its development and which began last June.
RESPOND-A cuenta con treinta y cuatro socios: European University Cyprus (coordinador); Airbus DS SLC; Triagnosys Gmbh; National Center for Scientific Research «Demokritos»; Fundación Centro de Tecnologías de Interacción Visual y Comunicaciones Vicomtech; Fundació Privada I2CAT, Internet i Innovació Digital a Catalunya; Atmosphere Gmbh; Probotek Ltd; Robotnik Automation Sll; Athonet Srl; Nifakos Sokratis; 0 Infinity Limited; Hellenic Instruments IKE; Prometech BV; Eight Bells; Sidroco Holdings Limited; Cyberlens BV; Vallfirest Tecnologías Forestales, S.L.; Csi Center For Social Innovation Ltd; Fundació d’ecología del Foc i Gestió d’incendis Pau Costa Alcubierre; Fundación Valenciaport; Public Safety Communication Europe Forum AISBL; Ayuntamiento de Valencia – Policía Local de València; Cyprus Police; Municipality of Egaleo; Institut po Otbrana BG; Smartex S.R.L.; Uprava Pomorske Sigurnosti I Upravljanja Lukama; Ministry of National Defence, Greece; Ministério da Justiça; Universitetska Mnogoprofilna Bolnitsa Za Aktivno Lechenie «Sveti Georgi» – University Multiprofile Hospital for Active Traitment «Saint George» IV; Software Company Eood; Innovative Energy and Information Technologies Ltd; e Ianus Consulting Limited.
