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OPIC RESEARCHER RECEIVES ITAC HERO AWARD

June 24, 2009, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC)*, has chosen Ryerson University's Dr. Alex Ferworn to receive its prestigious Community IT Hero award. Presented by Intel, the IT Hero Awards Program recognizes individuals and organizations that have improved the quality of life for their communities through the application of information technology. Dr. Ferworn and the Network-Centric Applied Research Team (N-CART) at Ryerson's Department of Computer Science, in partnership with the canine handlers of the Provincial Emergency Response Team (PERT) of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), have been working to create unique IT-enabled public safety systems that improve how searches are conducted for trapped people in urban disasters.

The award winning project known as "Canine Augmentation Technology" (CAT) creates technologies that assist emergency first responders by placing sensing, networking and computing equipment on trained urban search and rescue (US&R) dogs. This equipment feeds information to emergency managers allowing them to make better decisions about how to plan a rescue. "The CAT project has made us think about what we mean by the term mulidisciplinary", said Ferworn. "We have people working on this project who are police officers, fire fighters, Fashion Professors, Engineers and, of course, Computer Scientists. I am proud to receive this award on behalf of the many people who have worked countless hours with few resources for such a worthy goal. If our technology can save a single life, it will be worth the effort", said Dr. Ferworn.

Earthquakes and other events can cause damage to cities on a vast scale with the collapse of thousands of buildings at the same time. Finding trapped people is extremely difficult in these circumstances and speed is critical to saving lives. Consequently US&R dogs' superior ability to climb into and over rubble, their speed and amazing sense of smell have given them a special, and thus far unrivalled, place in the response to urban disasters. They are trained to find the largest concentrations of live human scent and bark to indicate the presence of trapped people.

"Now we have the capability to send cameras, microphones and other sensors into the rubble with the dog," said founding team member and PERT canine handler Constable Kevin Barnum. Referring to the newly patented Canine Remote Deployment System he went on to say, "For the first time we can actually deliver supplies to a trapped person right from the dog." Designed to drop supplies to victms at the press of a button, the CRDS can also be activated through the bark of a dog. The CRDS detects the sustained barking of a dog that has found a live human through a customizable algorithm developed in Dr. Ferworn's lab.

Dr. Ferworn holding the CRDS
Photo credit: Natalie Ann Comeau

ITAC is not the first organization to recognize the value of Dr. Ferworn's Canine Augmentation Technology. In 2007 the project won the prestigious Ontario Government Showcase Award of Excellence for project achievement, and has been featured in numerous media reports. "We have unique IT-enabled public safety systems that can save lives. Organizations like The Ontario Partnership for Innovation and Commercialization (OPIC)**, and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) have helped us to move our applied research forward to the point where we have potential commercial products," said Dr. Ferworn. To show the confidence that the OPP have in Dr. Ferworn he was asked to join PERT as its only auxiliary member in 2008. There have been several expressions of interest from potential adopters of the technology in the US and Canada.

Over the past three years CAT has received support from a number of sources including OPIC, OCE, Ryerson University, the OPP and the Toronto Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) organization of Toronto Fire Services. Dr. Ferworn and his team's work is helping to define a new research field called Computational Public Safety. "Finally, with the recognition of ITAC, my hope is that we can attract a socially conscious organization that will share our vision and be able to provide sustained research funding to ensure that our work can continue", said Dr. Ferworn.

For other media coverage of Canine Augmentation Technology see CTV, the Toronto Star the Discovery Channel's "Daily Planet" program, Pet Network's "Pet Central" program, the Toronto Sun and Dogs in Canada magazine

*ITAC is the largest association of Canadian companies in the information and communications technologies (ICT) sector. With 1300 member companies, ITAC "represents a diverse ICT community spanning telecommunications and internet services, ICT consulting services, hardware, microelectronics, and software and electronic content."

**OPIC is a network of 7 Ontario universities: Brock, Lakehead, Laurentian, Nipissing, Ryerson, Trent and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, working together to increase technology transfer, commercialization and entrepreneurial culture.

For more information re the CAT project please contact: Theresa Erskine, Business Development, Ryerson University

For more information re OPIC please contact: Karen Zavitz, Managing Director, OPIC

Presented by Ontario Partnership for Innovation and Commercialization
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