Seamless mobility: delivering mission critical information at the fingertips of firefighters using communications technology

During any incident response, information needs to be delivered to the person or place where decisions are being made. It is also critical that officers and their control rooms can immediately and securely access and exchange the information they need, whether it is by voice, text or sending images.

The communications technology that provides this access needs to be highly reliable, secure and capable of handling large amounts of data quickly. It also needs to seamlessly operate across different environments and technologies, providing a continuity of experience across all networking technologies, linking fire crews to mission critical information, en-route to and at the incidents themselves, so they are best equipped to deal with the "shout".

It is also important that responders do not need to worry about what communications technology is being used to get the information they need--it should just happen automatically. Motorola believes this is the essence of seamless mobility. Information to be accessed or exchanged can range from complex structural maps and hazardous material information to a live image of an incident site to enhance the insight of command and control teams when building operational strategies. And of course, this is all in addition to the provision of secure and highly resilient voice-based communications.

Adding rapid data access to the overall flow of communications

New systems need to be developed to ensure effective collection and distribution of data across agencies and technologies. The challenge lies in providing reliable and secure access to a wide range of data sources--from the moment of crew dispatch, when mobile to the incident and then at the fireground itself. It is also important to avoid delays to the data throughput if, for example, it is requested by voice and then needs to be sent via a third party such as a busy control room operator. The key is to ensure that the data transactional response is guaranteed.

Image based data is also growing in importance as a source of intelligence and a way of improving effectiveness. Still or live images from digital cameras mounted on hydraulic lifts or even integrated into officer's helmets can help incident commanders with their strategies on the fireground. If relayed to remote control centres, they help gold commands establish a more accurate picture of the development of the incident and the need for additional specialist support or the requirement to extend safety cordons around major incidents. In short, what this means is a tremendous amount of information is available and the challenge is mobilising this data in a sensible and efficient manner.

Delivering intelligence to the mobile officer

Bandwidth requirements to bring the intelligence to the mobile officer needs to consider the content involved.

This can be broken into a number of tiers:

* basic content access (text only)

* images

* live images

* multimedia content based applications.

TETRA (TErrestrial Trunked RAdio) in its current form supports the majority of applications in the first two tiers as well as, of course, providing crystal clear, secure voice services. Recent research indicates that TETRA's simple Packet Data supports the majority of data applications used by the emergency services today and, with the imminent availability of Multi Slot Packet Data, is likely to continue to do so past the year 2010. However, the moving images that comprise the last two tiers involve much richer content. This brings a fresh challenge--how do you select an appropriate bearer that will co-exist with TETRA and can be used according to operational requirements?

Complimentary new bearers

Public GPRS and 3G networks are not designed to address the specific needs of mission critical data. The general public would probably agree--recent experiences in London in the aftermath of the July 7 bombings were typical when mobile cellular service levels plummeted due to the sheer volume of calls being made. Emergency services cannot rely on capacity being available on public networks when they need it. Fortunately, new and evolving solutions are opening the way for secure, wireless broadband connectivity--which work in conjunction with and are complementary to TETRA.

The Canopy(tm) wireless broadband (point to point) solution from Motorola, provide an ideal static backhaul facility between mobile incident command and gold or silver commands. In addition, the Canopy network can integrate with the local control room network, so once any data is captured it can be stored on a sewer in the fixed network and then distributed or accessed by TETRA users on the secure network in a way that is transparent to the end-user. Therefore, Canopy can actually provide seamless mobility for the emergency services. However, when there is a need for mobile access to broadband data, other technologies are more appropriate.

Motorola's MESH network solutions allow peer to peer communication without the need for access points. Deployed at an incident, Motorola's MESH enabled devices form an instant, ad hoc wireless broadband network. No infrastructure is needed--the network is self-forming between MESH devices and, importantly, serf-healing as each device performs the role of a router and repeater for broadband communications. Devices already installed in fire appliances and in the mobile command centre at the incident will interact with any other MESH enabled device in the fireground. Not only does this provide a flow of data and images but, importantly, it can also establish precise location of any MESH device and transmit vital officer information. Incident controllers could now pinpoint the location of officers equipped with Breathing Apparatus in smoke filled buildings, monitor their air tank reserves and guide rescue teams directly to them should they be in trouble.

Seamless mobility--a reality, not a developer's dream

The reality of the situation is simple--response quality and ability are directly related to information access. For firefighters, information access starts at the point of crew dispatch, covers briefing and incident updates in their appliance en-route and lasts throughout their activities in the fireground and subsequent reviews or evidential investigations. Information can be complex and access to it bandwidth hungry. The access technologies exist--they are not a development dream.

TETRA networks with portable and mobile terminals specifically designed for public safety users for voice, text and still images. Broadband network enhancements: MESH solutions for local ad-hoc networks and Canopy(tm) static backhaul links. And, importantly, they can all be linked so that users can start to enjoy the reality of seamless mobility of mission critical data.

COPYRIGHT 2005 DMG World Media Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group