An integrated command control and communications center for first responders

Abstract

First responders to a major incident include many different agencies. These may include law enforcement officers, multiple fire departments, paramedics, HAZMAT response teams, and possibly even federal personnel such as FBI and FEMA. Often times multiple jurisdictions respond to the incident which causes interoperability issues with respect to communication and dissemination of time critical information. Accurate information from all responding sources needs to be rapidly collected and made available to the current on site responders as well as the follow-on responders who may just be arriving on scene. The creation of a common central database with a simple easy to use interface that is dynamically updated in real time would allow prompt and efficient information distribution between different jurisdictions. Such a system is paramount to the success of any response to a major incident. First responders typically arrive in mobile vehicles that are equipped with communications equipment. Although the first responders may make reports back to their specific home based command centers, the details of those reports are not typically available to other first responders who are not a part of that agencies infrastructure. Furthermore, the collection of information often occurs outside of the first responder vehicle and the details of the scene are normally either radioed from the field or written down and then disseminated after significant delay. Since first responders are not usually on the same communications channels, and the fact that there is normally a considerable amount of confusion during the first few hours on scene, it would be beneficial if there were a centralized location for the repository of time critical information which could be accessed by all the first responders in a common fashion without having to redesign or add significantly to each first responders hardware/software systems. Each first responder would then be able to provide information regarding their particular situation and such information could be accessed by all responding personnel. This will require the transmission of information provided by the first responder to a common central database system. In order to fully investigate the use of technology, it is advantageous to build a test bed in order to evaluate the proper hardware/software necessary, and explore the envisioned scenarios of operation before deployment of an actual system. This paper describes an ongoing effort at the University of New Hampshire to address these emergency responder needs.

First Responders to Superstorm Sandy; An Information Technology Assessment

“…Such a system is paramount to the success of any response to a major incident. (Messner, Hludik, Vidacic, & Melnyk, 2005) Since first responders are not usually on the same communications channels, and the fact that there is normally a considerable amount of confusion during the first few hours on scene, it would be beneficial if there were a centralized location for the repository of time critical information which could be accessed by all the first responders in a common fashion without having to redesign or add significantly to each first responders hardware/software systems. Each first responder would then be able to provide information regarding their particular situation and such information could be accessed by all responding personnel.…”

“…Many times, the details of those reports are not typically available to other first responders who are not a part of that agencies infrastructure. Furthermore, the collection of information often occurs outside of the first responders' vehicle and the details of the scene are normally either radioed from the field or written down and then disseminated after significant delay (Messner, Hludik, Vidacic, & Melnyk, 2005). The transmission of information from point to point can lead to lost or misinformation.…”

Consolidated data acquisition and management for first responders

“…The interface to the remote database is accomplished through Windows Sockets and TCP/IP connectivity, and it is implemented on the Embedded PC within the UNHWin application. A specific message format is used in order to standardize the communication between the PDA and the Embedded PC (Messner et al , 2005). The part of the message to be sent to remote server is pre‐stored in the file located on the Embedded PC thus avoiding the hard coding of certain system settings in the source code.…”

“…The live fingerprint acquisition is supported by both the Pocket PC and Embedded PC through integration of different fingerprint sensors. The fingerprint application on the PDA (Messner et al , 2005) interfaces the BioHub fingerprint imager produced by Biocentric Solutions Incorporated. The BioHub sensor is connected to the iPAQ 5550 PDA through the CF/PCMCIA interface by using the appropriate expansion pack.…”

“…Interoperability issues can cause serious problems in communications preventing reliable information dissemination. Recently, we developed the capability of remote access to incident reports directly on‐scene by using a simple speech interface, and wireless data transmission from a PDA device (Messner et al , 2005). The text report is stored in a central database on the remote server and is immediately available to others who may require that data.…”