LiveU Delivers Mission-Critical IP-Video Transmission Solution for SÄRF Sweden Emergency Services
Expanded LiveU deployment used for real-time situational awareness, fire and accident prevention as well as training
Sweden’s Södra Älvsborgs Rescue Service Association, (SÄRF) has increased its deployment of LiveU‘s real-time video transmission solutions, adding recording capabilities to create a complete ‘live and store’ video set-up for situational awareness and use in training scenarios. This significantly strengthens its decision-making, responsiveness and preparedness to deal with fires and accidents. Headquartered in Boras, the regional rescue organization runs rescue services in six municipalities, including 25 fire and ambulance stations.
LiveU’s resilient IP-video technology is used for real-time situational awareness, with live video transmitted from the field to SÄRF’s headquarters for fire and accident prevention as well as training. The equipment, set-up and support are provided by LiveU’s longstanding local partner in Sweden, Entercast.
SÄRF has supplied over 200 LU-Smart mobile apps to its rescue crews, most importantly for use by the fire truck operators on their personal smartphones. LiveU’s compact LU300S field encoder, used with a DJI Mavic Pro drone operator, is deployed to provide a bird’s eye view of major incidents. The LiveU apps and field encoder are used for live transmission enabling real-time situational awareness, response management and resource allocation, and storing for debriefing and analysis. Live feeds are transmitted to the LU2000 server in the HQ control room and displayed on a large 70-inch screen. The data from the live server is also transmitted out to the field, as needed, specifically to the team leaders.
Niklas Ignell, Fire Safety Manager, SÄRF, said, «It’s often said one picture says more than 1,000 words. We’ve been using LiveU technology for several years and its reliability, encryption and ease of use, in particular, are critical advantages. We’re now using a complete solution where everyone on the team has the LU-Smart app; the fire fighters can simply click two buttons after unlocking their phones to get the video app working. The teams find it easy to use whether they’re technical or non-technical. Our fire truck phones with the app are the ones used most actively in the field. Combined with the cloud service, the video is automatically recorded, and we can then analyze the critical pictures, deleting them when we close the report. The live streams are transmitted instantly into the main control center and the operators can decide quickly if more help and resources are needed.»
Ignell continued, «Five of our guys are also certified drone pilots so they can operate the LU300S with the drone in major incidents, such as industrial fires. For example, we recently had a fire in a pizzeria and the LiveU unit and the drone were used to ensure that nobody was left inside the building. We also use the drone and LiveU for non-emergency situations, for example, checking the safety of the roofs of large factories and facilities in extreme weather conditions. LiveU has become an important element in our team training and education as well, such as handling situations with chemicals.»
Entercast also provides a real-time content-sharing platform from its sister company Vindral, integrated with the LiveU solution. The received encrypted feeds are forwarded to the Vindral platform from the LU2000 server. This gives a secure, low latency web page player with a pin number where team members can view the live streams in a browser from any device.
Paul Shepherd, Channel Sales Director, LiveU, said, «We’re increasingly seeing our resilient video solutions used for life-saving public safety applications, enabling emergency teams to respond faster and make informed tactical decisions. SÄRF is a true innovator with the way that it maximizes its use of our mobile apps and LU300S with the drone. It’s very impressive to see how it has expanded its situational awareness capabilities throughout its region using LiveU.»