MARIUS passes crisis test

BAE Systems has successfully tested a mobile ground station for use by emergency services at a simulated crisis exercise in Valencia, Spain.

The ground station is part of a European Commission-funded technology project called Mobile Autonomous Reactive Information System for Urgency Situations (MARIUS).

The exercise, conducted with Valencia fire fighters, consisted of a simulated terrorist attack in an urban area. The portable ground station served as an information hub for emergency operations, with data transferred to the hub including video from ground-based cameras and an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a helicopter-based mobile phone detection system.

The MARIUS system is also able to process mobile telecommunications information to track casualties and ground-based personnel, and display their locations on a detailed map. Users can add details to the map, such as the severity of injuries, to help emergency teams prioritise their response.

BAE Systems is one of 12 industrial and academic partners from five countries that are developing the MARIUS system, which is coordinated by EADS. The University Politecnica de Valencia organised the event with support from the local authorities.