Fire can spread in mere minutes, and delays caused by complacency or poor evacuation choices can be catastrophic. GABES Limited, a start-up founded by a team of current students and graduates from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), has developed an intelligent fire emergency system to address this issue. Leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) technology, the system determines the severity and origin of a fire emergency in real-time, dynamically adjusts the building evacuation routes, and employs dynamic fire emergency exit signs to guide people to safety.
From Aspiration to Action: Embarking on the Startup Journey
Founded in 2021, GABES is a startup led by CityUHK alumni and students to provide safer and more efficient fire response solutions. Co-founder, Deacon Wong Ho-yin is a graduate of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and Wilson Wong Ming-chi, who focuses on technical research, is a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering.
Deacon once dreamt of becoming a firefighter. Though he didn’t join the frontlines, his aspiration evolved into a broader vision of fire prevention and disaster mitigation after undertaking a university course in fire engineering.
“Traditional fire alarms fail to identify fire locations or provide actionable evacuation plans for property management personnel,” explained Deacon. “Our system bridges this critical gap, providing timely evacuation instructions.”
Integrated Solution for Fire Safety: Real-Time Safe Evacuation Planning
GABES’s signature innovation, the “AlphaNexus” fire emergency system, integrates three IoT technologies: “Fire Sensors”, “Real-Time Evacuation Maps”, and “Dynamic Exit Signs”. The fire sensors are designed to detect temperature and smoke changes for early, precise fire alerts, allowing property management personnel to determine evacuation routes by integrating information such as fire location and building layout.
The real-time evacuation maps analyse the building layout to devise the safest evacuation route while highlighting potential danger zones. The dynamic exit signs adjust their directions in real-time using green arrows and red crosses in guide individuals in safe direction, avoiding hazardous areas.
Moving beyond traditional smoke detectors, GABES’s sensors combine smoke and temperature analysis, reducing false alarms triggered by cooking, smoking or incense burning. The system also allows for proactive adjustments to re-route evacuation plans based on environmental changes, such as construction blockages, enabling intelligent disaster prevention.
Research and Development Supported by HK Tech 300
Like many tech start-ups, GABES faced significant resource constraints during its early days. Deacon recalled that they had to overcome a major hurdle to secure funding to develop physical products, as the team members were primarily students. Their breakthrough came in 2022, when CityUHK’s HK Tech 300 provided them with seed and angel funding, accelerating product development and unlocking overseas opportunities. This included the company’s participation in the launch ceremony of the “HK Tech 300 Southeast Asia Start-up Competition”, held in Kuala Lumpur in May last year, to showcase their innovation.
The programme also connected them with experts such as CityUHK Associate Provost (Digital Learning) Professor Ray Cheung Chak-Chung, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, who provided guidance on technical challenges and access to laboratory facilities for prototype testing, as well as links to experts and potential collaborators.
Pilot Programme in Secondary Schools Paves the Way for a Broader Impact
GABES is currently piloting its system in secondary schools, where it is being fine-tuned for optimised applications. The team aims to expand its system applications to other types of properties by mid-2025. Reflecting on the future, Deacon Wong noted the growing demand for smart building technologies and smart fire safety solutions. Through continuous collaboration with industry professionals, the team is committed to developing more applied solutions to address evolving needs.
Nov 2024