An IoT-based Emergency Evacuation System

During a fire emergency, most people tend to panic and head towards a known exit that is not necessarily the best option. Therefore, a system that dynamically directs people to the safest exit is needed to reduce congestion, speed up the evacuation process and to save lives. This paper presents a system that uses IoT technologies to track location of the fire and building occupants, and then directs the occupants smartly towards a safe exit. The system uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons for indoor localization using the occupant's mobile phones. The system also tracks areas of danger using smoke and temperature sensors. For resiliency in face of a fire, the system uses multiple networks including WiFi and the DigiMesh. A publish/subscribe architecture using an MQTT broker was implemented. In case of a fire, occupants can use a smart mobile application that provides the occupants with a live map of the current danger levels within the building. In addition, smart exit signs are deployed throughout the building that dynamically change their state based on location of the fire to guide the occupants to safety. Real-time information gathered from sensors and occupants is also provided to emergency response services. The proposed system can be scaled to a city-wide emergency network.