The next generation of digital products
The future belongs to the connected fire department, and Rosenbauer’s “Revolutionary Technology” (RT), the world’s first firefighting vehicle with an electric drive, is pre-empting it. In the fall of 2020, the RT was presented to the global public and further digital product solutions that will support fire departments in the future were launched.
In the fire department of the future, everything will be networked: Firefighters, emergency vehicles and all the emergency technology, from pumps to turrets, from generators to robots.
The essential funtions of not only modern electric vehicles, but also the RT, will be controlled via a large touchscreen installed centrally in teh cockpit.
With digitalization, the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and Big Data, future technologies are increasingly about networking. In the future, the everyday life of fire departments will also be characterized by connectivity. The emergency services will use digital platforms to obtain all the information they need in the respective emergency situation. They will supplement and share the data in real time, just as people have become accustomed to doing in the virtual world.
Rosenbauer provides fire departments with two platforms: the EMEREC operations management system and the RDS Connected Fleet vehicle management system. EMEREC can be used to handle the entire firefighting operation, while Connected Fleet provides important information about emergency vehicles and technology and enables complete fleet management.
The networked emergency vehicle
With the RT, the new firefighting vehicle with an electric drive, fire departments have access to both platforms. The vehicle is connected to the EMEREC high-security server, on which all information about the respective area (route and building plans, attack routes, water maps, etc.) is stored. In addition, the RT provides direct access to the Internet (hazardous materials and other databases, vehicle rescue maps, weather and traffic information) or, in the future, to the Internet of Things. The cockpit of the RT with its 17” display in the middle becomes the central control point. Not only is all the information obtained and distributed via the touchscreen, but most of the vehicle and firefighting technology functions can also be controlled in this way.
In addition, the RT sets up its own WiFi, which enables all emergency personnel at the scene to be connected and, if necessary, for technical equipment to be operated remotely. This also applies, for example, to drones, which in the future will be increasingly used for situational awareness or when searching for people. Their images, such as the aerial perspective of an operation site, will be transmitted via EMEREC to the display in the vehicle.
»With our innovative products, firefighting operations can be completely digitalized - from resource planning to operational command and from documentation to evaluation.«
Andreas Zeller, CSO
Useful addional information
Connected Fleet provides fire departments with a complete overview of their emergency response equipment. In the case of vehicles, for example, the system provides telemetry data such as kilometers driven, engine speeds or brake pressures, and provides information on the fill levels of fuel and extinguishing agent tanks, exact position and route data, and also the operating data of installed or mounted equipment.
In addition, mobile equipment such as the FOX portable pump or the new RTE Robot crawler vehicle dock onto Connected Fleet. In the future, more and more products will have CAN interfaces and GPS modules, providing fire departments with useful additional information in the field.
A newer, universal assistant
In the future, fire departments will also receive support via modern assistance systems such as Rosenbauer’s new RTE Robot, a robust and all-terrain crawler vehicle with an electric drive. It is operated via radio remote control and has a multifunction interface that accommodates payloads of up to 650 kg and allows functions to be quickly adapted to the respective operational situation. For example, the RTE Robot can be used for logistical tasks, such as transporting heavy equipment to a remote site, can be used as a reconnaissance and recovery vehicle, and can be equipped with special turret modules for firefighting. The dimensions of the crawler are such that it can fit into any logistics vehicle that can also transport a Euro-pallet. The most important advantage of the firefighting robot is that it can be used wherever it is too dangerous for humans.
PLATFORMS
Operating systems for fire departments
The EMEREC and Connected Fleet applications run on all end devices such as deployment management computers, tablets or smartphones.
AROUND 14t CO2
could be saved per year with an electric firefighting vehicle.1
DRONES
Flying camera and sensor systems
Drones provide an aerial perspective and are used for situational awareness, when searching for people, and in the future may also be used for the detection of hazardous substances.
RTE ROBOT
A flexible assistant for firefighting operations
The RTE Robot can be deployed wherever it is too dangerous for humans.
FUTURE BOX
September 2020 saw the international sales launch of the RT and the handover of the first three customer vehicles. It was possible to follow the launch event at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz via livestream. The launch was met with great interest around the globe. The feedback and numerous further orders confirm that Rosenbauer is on the right track with this vehicle.