Small Scale Field Test 2.2, Information and Communication Technologies, 2- 3 December 2021, Greece
In early December 2021, the second field assessment of the CURSOR components COP, COPTERM, EXPER, EG, geophones took place on HRTA training, testing and exercise site (ATC) in northern Attica region, Greece.
The main aims of the test were to assess the following toolkit features and functionalities:
- The information from the workstation is available in real time in COPTERM.
- UCC has continuous access to information from the worksite.
- All the information received from the sensors/workstation is saved and retrievable.
- The capability of fusing heterogeneous information is provided.
- Information from the sensors is available to the corresponding workstation in real time.
- The equipment is undamaged after the test.
The first day of the event was dedicated to training activities, where technical partners provided guidelines and hands-on training to FRs of HRTA, in order to become more familiar with technology and the equipment and being able to deploy the toolkit on their own. During the second day, FRs from Greece had the opportunity to actually deploy the CURSOR components in realistic field scenarios and specific use cases, simulating a USAR team deployment for wide area assessment, rapid SAR and focused SAR, around and inside a semi-collapsed building.
About 15 participants provided relevant input for further technology development during and after the field test exercise, including field team members as well as HRTA mission leaders. This was the second field test on the ATC site with the CURSOR toolkit, this time more focused on functional details and possible improvements of the components. The Geophone was used for the first time by FRs in the field and integrated well with other components.
The main objective of the field test, i.e., to use the technologies in realistic scenarios, was further enhanced by adverse weather conditions, as much of the scenarios during the second day were executed under rainfall and windy conditions. This provided the technical partners additional complexities in the component deployment, but at the same time more valuable feedback regarding the efficiency of the toolkit in realistic FR deployments in USAR operations. The improvements of CURSOR specific components and their integration level was deemed as satisfactory and according to plan.