The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute's Kang Dong-gu Center Director has been recognized for developing a special technology that clearly shows structures that are not visible due to thick smoke at a fire scene.


The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced on the 6th that the Director of the Electric Convergence Human Care Research Center, Dong-gu Kang, received a commendation from the Commissioner of the National Fire Agency for his contribution to developing ‘visual enhancement image processing technology’ that secures the field of vision for firefighters at fire scenes.

At fire scenes, black smoke often fills the air, making it difficult to see even an inch ahead. This can delay rescue efforts or lead to accidents where firefighters or rescued individuals become isolated. In such cases, firefighters may have to rely on fire hoses or lifelines, or feel their way out by touching the wall.

KERI Center Director Kang Dong-gu, who has been researching improving the image quality of medical imaging diagnostic devices and surgical equipment, began researching, believing that the know-how he has accumulated so far can be applied to fire scenes. The 'Vision Enhancement Image Processing' developed through this is a special technology that removes smoke and clearly shows structures that are hidden and not easily visible.

Director Kang succeeded in developing a prototype through collaboration with the National Fire Research Institute. In this process, we actively reflected the voices from the field, and firefighters went into the black smoke at the fire test site of the fire academy to verify the effect of the prototype on improving visibility. According to the results of the prototype test conducted at the Central Fire Academy at the end of last year, the target search time was shortened by about 27%, and 90% of the firefighters who participated in the fire test responded that they were satisfied with the effect of improving visibility.

In addition, the research team significantly increased the portability and convenience of firefighters using visual enhancement equipment by designing an algorithm that enables real-time information processing even at low power.

KERI Gangdong-gu Center Director said, “Fire smoke simulation experiments are fields that we cannot do on our own, but we were able to obtain good results thanks to the active cooperation of organizations affiliated with the National Fire Agency.” He added, “It can be applied not only to firefighting sites, but also to various industrial fields such as surgical endoscopic devices, weather-resistant autonomous driving cameras, and marine fog observation equipment.”

With this achievement, the National Fire Research Institute received the grand prize (Minister of Public Administration and Security Award) at the 'Responsible Management Organization Service Innovation Sharing Contest' last year, and the Commissioner of the National Fire Agency awarded a commendation to the Gangdong-gu Center Director for his contribution. The vision improvement equipment is scheduled to be used on a trial basis at fire scene sites this year, and the research team reports that if it is applied to the field through future technology commercialization, it will contribute to creating a fire industry market worth approximately 11 billion won.

Meanwhile, KERI is a government-funded research institute under the National Research Council of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Science and ICT.