The Linux Foundation's Latest Effort is Around Firefighter Safety

[phoronix]

Phoronix: The Linux Foundation's Latest Effort is Around Firefighter Safety

Following the formation of the Open 3D Foundation and their open-source IBM-led work around watering farms from the cloud, the Linux Foundation's newest effort is around trying to enhance firefighter safety with open-source...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Foundation-Firefighters

[tildearrow]

Typo in the short description:

Toxixns & More

[tildearrow]

I wonder, why so much complexity for something that simple (air quality data history and remote warnings)?

Instead of bringing in WebSockets, MariaDB and a zillion other things:

1. The firefighter logs into the ruggedized Samsung smartphone via IBM App ID. Devices are paired through Bluetooth.
2. The device sensors capture toxin levels. The device sends stored readings to the phone at regular intervals.
3. The mobile application relays data to the IBM IoT platform.
4. The MQTT client service listens for incoming messages from the IBM IoT platform.
5. The MQTT client stores the data in the MariaDB relational database.
6. The MQTT client sends the data to the WebSocket server.
7. The Rules-Decision service wakes up every minute to calculate the 10 mins, 30 mins, 60 mins, 4 hours, and 8 hours time-weighted averages for each gas.
8. The dashboard queries the database to show the historical data.
9. The dashboard connects to the WebSocket Server to show live data and alerts the user if the levels go above certain pre-determined thresholds.
10. The command center can view the dashboard using the web browser on a laptop or tablet.
11. The mobile application regularly requests status from the Rules-Decision service and emits the result via device LED and Samsung phone/watch vibrations.

Why not just use Prometheus, Grafana and some other things to send alerts? Like:

1. The firefighter logs into the ruggedized Samsung smartphone via IBM App ID. Devices are paired through Bluetooth.
2. The device sensors capture toxin levels. The device sends stored readings to the phone at regular intervals.
3. The mobile application relays data to the Prometheus node.
4. The Prometheus server captures data from the Prometheus node and stores it to its own database.
5. The command center can view the dashboard using Grafana.
6. The mobile application regularly requests status from the alerts manager and emits the result via device LED and Samsung phone/watch vibrations.

[archkde]

Seems to me the money would be better invested into equipment and training to adequately protect the firefighters from inhaling the toxic smoke in the first place.

[LuukD]

"..open-source IBM-led work around watering farms from the cloud.." Ok. That settles it. I always wondered who made it rain.

[perpetually high]

Smokey the Bear and perpetually high approve this message.

edit: (only YOU can prevent kernel panics and forest fires)

[skeevy420]

Seems to me the money would be better invested into equipment and training to adequately protect the firefighters from inhaling the toxic smoke in the first place.

No amount of training helps when the wind shifts, a seal fails and other equipment failure, when showing up to a situation is so dire that they have to run in and save someone before having time to properly gear up, massive chemical fires, etc.

That's like saying "Seems to me the money would be better invested into equipment and training to adequately protect the soldiers and cops from being shot in the first place". Give the best training, give them the best armor, and someone will build a bigger gun and come up with new tactics. It's a game of cat and mouse mixed in with whataboutism. Firefighting is no different. Even with the best training, shit happens. Better to have biometrics to be able to tell someone to pull back versus them thinking they're capable of going gung-ho on a situation.

[skeevy420]

Smokey the Bear and perpetually high approve this message.

edit: (only YOU can prevent kernel panics and forest fires)

I can only prevent one of those; can cause both

[randomizer]

Seems to me the money would be better invested into equipment and training to adequately protect the firefighters from inhaling the toxic smoke in the first place.

Whose money? Which firefighters? There are firefighters in every country, and there's no way that the Linux Foundation or IBM will be able to raise enough money to make a difference globally, let alone distribute it.

Firefighting is no different.

Actually, it is, but not in a good way. Many fire fighters are volunteers, and their depots may not even get significant government funding, unlike the police and military.

[archkde]

No amount of training helps when the wind shifts, a seal fails and other equipment failure, when showing up to a situation is so dire that they have to run in and save someone before having time to properly gear up, massive chemical fires, etc.

That's like saying "Seems to me the money would be better invested into equipment and training to adequately protect the soldiers and cops from being shot in the first place". Give the best training, give them the best armor, and someone will build a bigger gun and come up with new tactics. It's a game of cat and mouse mixed in with whataboutism. Firefighting is no different. Even with the best training, shit happens. Better to have biometrics to be able to tell someone to pull back versus them thinking they're capable of going gung-ho on a situation.

The shit we're presumably talking about here is so toxic you will not be conscious any more after a few minutes of inhaling it. You need to protect yourself or you will not be able to protect others.

In your police analogy, I don't see the point of developing software to tell a police officer how big the gun was which they were shot with. Even if no armor is perfect, better give them armor as good as possible and train them to do their mission with it.