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‘Fireball spheres’ offer look inside burning buildings

New sensor designed so firefighters and first responders can get an idea of the environments they could be going into

SemiAccurate.com

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — What do you get when you wrap a PCB, radio, sensors and battery in an metal sphere, then throw it in to a burning building? Intel calls it a Fireball, but you can call it whatever you want, it won’t really care.

The idea is to put sensors in hazardous environments where people won’t, shouldn’t, or can’t go, and get readings about what is going on inside. Fireball gets its name because it was designed to be thrown in to a burning building so firefighters and first responders can get an idea of the environments that they can’t otherwise see. This allows them to both do their job better while protecting themselves in a much more intelligent way.

There is no single type of Fireball, it is more of a malleable concept for future sensors. The PCB is pretty small, that is an AA battery on top for reference, and it sits in a ceramic heat shield. All this is wrapped in an aluminum or steel ball with slots to allow atmospheric sampling. The steel version has an external antenna, the aluminum doesn’t block signals, so the antenna can be internal.

Full story: Intel throws Fireballs in to burning buildings

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