When the first 911 call was made in February 1968, few imagined that our nation’s 911 system would bloom into nearly 6,000 local, state, and regional 911 centers across the country answering 650,000 daily emergency calls.
Now, despite its success in saving countless lives over the past 50 years, 911 is facing its own emergency.
The technology infrastructure that supports America’s 911 system is in dire need of an upgrade…
One hears phrases like “communication is key” and “we need an open line of communication” so often in everyday life that it has become a cliché. But, when it comes to public safety and first responders, this cliché is a stark reality.
From the moment the call comes into the 9-1-1 center, a metaphorical, and literal, switch is flipped. Without reliable communications, that call can’t be dispatched, and those officers can’t respond. Fortunately, grant funders on both the federal and state level are aware of the necessity of reliable radio communications and have provided numerous resources for public-safety agencies…
As data grows dramatically in scale and complexity, existing analysis tools struggle to keep up. Within the public safety sector, the stakes are raised as people’s lives and livelihoods are at risk. Real-time information from traffic cameras, IoT sensor networks, and even health monitors can influence life-or-death decisions during emergency response. When that data is overwhelming or confusing, it impedes the effectiveness of this response and disrupts situational awareness. Fortunately, AR offers a new opportunity for much-needed innovation in analytics and visualization that hopes to make an immediate and significant impact on first responder operations and communications…
First, some clarification. “Mission-Critical Push-To-Talk” (MCPTT) is the form of Push-To-Talk (PTT) the 3GPP standards body developed in accordance with its PTT standard. However, networks, including FirstNet (Built with AT&T), are not using the term “mission-critical.” I seem to have confused some readers last week and I have been fielding questions about Motorola’s new offering, which, according to Motorola, will be fully-compliant with the 3GPP standard except it does not support off-network communications (ProSe).
Samsung developed the first PTT to meet the 3GPP standard and it is being offered on FirstNet as “FirstNet PTT.” Motorola’s offering will be the second 3GPP-compliant PTT application available on FirstNet. While it meets the 3GPP PTT standard, it will not use the term “mission-critical” either…
With EMMA, public safety responders get emergency event and threat information quickly and efficiently — ensuring that first responders have critical, decision-making information as soon as it is available.
EMMA (Emergency Management Mobile Application), developed and supported by Think Safe, Inc. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is a cross-platform patented software solution with alerting, communication, and management features…
Federal funding to accelerate deployment of IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) technology is not included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill introduced in the U.S. Senate, according to the text of the massive $1.2 trillion spending package that was released yesterday.
Many in the public-safety community have been anticipating the language in the infrastructure bill, in hopes that it would include funding to implement NG911 in public-safety answering points (PSAPs) across the country. In March, a Democrat-led U.S. House infrastructure proposal called for $15 billion for NG911, but none of the subsequent infrastructure proposals—from Republicans, the White House or this latest bipartisan Senate bill—has included any mention of NG911 funding… READ MORE
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
