Applying Wearable Sensors to Avalanche Rescue: First Experiences with a Novel Avalanche Beacon Florian Michahelles 1 , Peter Matter 1 , Albrecht Schmidt 2 , Bernt Schiele 1 1 Perceptual Computing & Computer Vision Group, ETH Zurich. {michahel, pmatter, schiele}@inf.ethz.ch 2 Computing Department, Lancaster University, LA1 4YR, UK. albrecht@comp.lancs.ac.uk Keywords situation-aware, wearable-sensing, personal assistance, avalanche rescue, mobile application, wearable computing Abstract We present a novel approach to enhance avalanche companion rescue using wearable sensing technologies. The time to find and extricate victims is most crucial: once buried by an avalanche, survival chances drop dramatically already after the first 15 minutes. Current technology offers only information on the location of a single victim, however statistics show that in many case there are multiple victims. In our research we address this issue and also investigate how the use of wearable sensors can further enhance such devices. We report on experiments using sensors to measure vital signs and environmental conditions and their suitability for avalanche rescue. Visualization for this type of application is addressed and two design sketches, both visualizing multiple victims and urgency, are presented. The architecture of current devices is extended by components to integrate these additional functions. We report on prototypical implementation of an avalanche beacon supporting multiple victims and visualization of vital signs. This prototype was used for further experiments and offered a basis for participatory evaluation with practitioners in the field. A short overview of these results is presented. 1 Introduction There is an on-going trend towards out of bound (off-piste) skiing. Recreationists go beyond their limits, underestimate the danger of avalanches and risk their lives without the appropriate awareness of avalanche risks [1]. Accordingly, the number of alpine recreationists in backcountry terrain, such as skiers, snowboarders, ice- climbers, etc., has increased in the last years [2] [3]. Statistical analysis of avalanche accidents during the last 30 years [4] has revealed that successful avalanche rescue has to aim at rescuing victims within the first 15 minutes. Avalanche survival is a monotonously decreasing function over time and after 15 minutes there is the biggest decline from 90% to 30%. It is noteworthy, that three quarters of all avalanche victims die from asphyxiation, only one quarter is killed from trauma. Consequently mountain clubs, such as the Swiss Alpine Club or the Canadian Mountain Rescue Association, put enormous efforts into educational programs on avalanche awareness and companion rescue operations. Simultaneously, beacon technology is widely used by recreationists. Worn by the mountaineers these electronic devices enable survivors and witnesses of an avalanche to start immediate search and rescue operations. This yields survival chances four times as high as in case of organized rescue [5], which is often too late. This paper concentrates on enhancing existing avalanche beacons with wearable sensors. Current devices only provide directions for finding victims. However, state of the art in wearable sensing suggests more opportunities: sensors can reveal emotional states [6], vital sign data [7], motion and orientation patterns [8] etc.. We believe that providing information on victims’ physical states at an avalanche site to rescuers allows much better resource allocation to the most urgent victims. Further, logging this information in a blackbox device, as used in today’s airplanes, could record the sequence of events during an avalanche release for basic avalanche studies or legal actions.