Two Irish students have made the global top 20 shortlist in the 2015 James Dyson Awards, which offers a top prize of €37,500.

A smart firefighter helmet invented by DIT design student Eilis Delaney and a new scuba system devised by University of Limerick student Cathal Redmond were selected by Dyson engineers from over 600 entries worldwide.

The smart firefighter helmet is called ‘Sense’ and focuses on assisting firefighters when navigating inside a burning building with poor visibility.

The retrofitting system fits into firefighters' helmets, providing the user with an improved perception of their environment, allowing them to navigate around dark spaces in a similar manner to bats.

An ultrasonic proximity sensor behind the front plate of the helmet is linked to a vibration motor. If the user encounters an obstacle, it is detected externally by the sensor, and triggers the internal vibration motor.

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According to its inventor, Eilis Delaney, she identified the problem of poor sensory feedback for firefighters by analysing the standard uniform currently in use.

"Firefighters face serious obstacles sensing, predicting and interpreting conditions when navigating their way around a burning building," Eilis said.

"This is largely down to the thick-layered and heavy uniform they wear, which limits sensory feedback, and suppresses natural instinct – at a time when quick decisions based on limited fragments of information are essential."

Cathal Redmond's 'Express Dive', which overcomes the complexities of a scuba set-up by reducing the number and size of parts needed to breathe underwater, won the Irish leg of the award and is also shortlisted for the international version. The international winner of the Dyson Awards will be announced on November 10.

The judges for the Irish entries were Irish Independent writer Adrian Weckler, Irish Times writer Ciara O’Brien and DIT’s Barry Sheehan, who is also managing director of Sheehan Architects.

Previous Irish winners in the Dyson Awards include Noel Joyce, who won in 2009 after developing a new braking system for wheelchairs.