Motivation

BL-IWA is a man-down system designed for large science facilities. Large science facilities require high reliability with round-the-clock operations. This often leads to engineering experts to be called in on off-hours to trouble-shoot system failures. During off-hour call-ins, unexpected situations can occur that can pose a safety threat to the called-in expert. While working alone is never a good idea, large science facilities often do not have the manpower to implement the two man rule during emergency interventions. Nowadays, everyone has a mobile phone that can be used to call for help. However, during an emergency situation or when a worker is impaired, the worker does not have the time or the capacity to unlock their phone, find an app, and summon help.

BL-IWA is much simpler.

The BL-IWA badge is a small light-weight device that can be clipped onto the user’s clothing. In the case of an emergency, the user presses a large, easy to find, button for a few seconds and a notification is published to the BL-IWA system. The badge also has a accelerometer so if the user has not moved for 120 seconds, or has fallen, a notification is also published to the BL-IWA system.

Anyone that is subscribing to the BL-IWA system notifications will receive a message. This publish-subscribe architecture adds a layer of redundancy so that the emergency call will be received by someone either listening on mobile or stationary platforms. BL-IWA can easily plug into most publish/subscribe notification systems.

Cost effective and reliable communication

BL-IWA uses the facility’s wireless infrastructure to communicate between BL-IWA badges and the BL-IWA server. Since the badge knows the MAC address of the router it is connected to, it can give an approximate location of the badge as the user roams throughout the facility. If the user wanders outside the range of the wireless coverage, the badge emits an audible and visual alarm to notify the user that they are outside coverage. If the server does not receive a badge update after a settable period of time, the server push out a notification that the badge is missing with the last know location of the badge.

In the case of a site-wide emergency, the server can also send messages to all or specific badges. The badges emit and different audible and visual alarm when they receive a notification from the server.