Portable IR Laser System for Real-Time Display of Alive People in Fire Scenes

An innovative approach is shown that can allow search-and-rescue personnel to find survivors trapped in fire scenarios through active laser scanning. This new but simple imaging technique permits to see live people through a flame wall by portable system suitable for on-field applications. Combining IR laser raster scanning with a bandpass frequency filter and an IR camera, we show that a direct useful signature of a scattered human target can be detected while discarding the flame emission. Several experiments are reported also by using a cheap, light-weight and low-resolution camera to demonstrate that the proposed approach allows real-time operation by portable light-weight device, thus being useful in the hands of firefighters.