This article was taken from the December 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
For firefighters, smoke can be as deadly as an inferno; it can reduce visibility to a few centimetres, forcing firefighters to crawl or keep in contact with walls -- carrying heavy equipment as they go. This causes delays that can cost lives. Having spent time with a fire brigade in 2009, Turkish product designer Omer Haciomeroglu -- then an MA student at Umea Institute for Design in Sweden -- came up with the C-Thru Smoke Diving Helmet. A fully integrated helmet designed for search and rescue missions, it features breathing apparatus, a communications system and a thermal imaging camera.
The C-Thru is designed to transmit visual data wirelessly so that 3D wireframe images of a site can be relayed back to the helmet in real time. It can also augment hearing -- another crucial sense for the firefighter, says Haciomeroglu, 30, who this year won an award from the Industrial Designers Society of America. "It cancels the sound of the user's breathing but enhances the structural cracking sounds and shouts of the victims that can guide rescuers."
The C-Thru isn't in production yet, but Haciomeroglu is looking for sponsors to develop the project. "It's still a concept-level design, but it's feasible," he says. "Firefighters are rightly proud of how they work. But at Umea they were happy to see how technology could help them."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
