GLANSER – An Emergency Responder Locator System for Indoor and GPS-Denied Applications

Locating responders in GPS-denied environments is a critical function in emergency situations. This paper provides background on the Emergency Responder Locator System developed by Honeywell for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Geospatial Location Accountability and Navigation System for Emergency Responders (GLANSER) program [1]. The GLANSER system provides the emergency incident commander with situational awareness in indoor and GPS-denied environments by displaying first-responder locations on a 2D or 3D display. Honeywell’s GLANSER system consists of portable geospatial locators that contain an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) ranging radio, a Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems (MEMS)-based Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a Doppler velocimeter, a barometric altimeter, and a processor module. The locators determine responder location by fusing range measurements to stationary anchor nodes with the inertial data and a human motion model. The velocity measurement from the 92 GHz Doppler is used to limit inertial drift and allows the unit to coast for more than to 15 seconds between range measurements while keeping position error within DHS’s stated threshold of 1 meter. Differential barometric measurements between the responder’s locators and the fixed anchor nodes are used to aid the vertical position measurement. Finally, a data radio is used for communication between nodes and to transmit the responder’s location to a commander display where the responder locations are displayed in 2D or 3D using Honeywell’s FirstVision™ software. This paper will present an overview of the system architecture and performance results from the UWB, Doppler, and differential barometric sensors. Key challenges including RF multipath mitigation and non-traditional motion (i.e. duck walk, walking up stairs) will also be addressed. Finally, initial performance results from the integrated system operating in an indoor environment will be presented.