by AllThingsECC.com | Nov 10, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Thomas Randall, Senior Public Safety Advisor, First Responder Network Authority
At Texas A&M University, two researchers, Dr. Walt Magnussen and Dr. Robin Murphy, are working together to advance public safety technologies. Dr. Magnussen focuses on public safety communications, and Dr. Murphy focuses on ways to use drones to enhance disaster response. They both use FirstNet in their research and training.
Putting new public safety tech to the test
Dr. Magnussen leads a research hub called the Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center(link is external) (ITEC), which conducts emergency communications research with a focus on interoperability. For the past five years, ITEC has hosted a training exercise called the Winter Institute that brings together first responders and technology leaders to try out public safety technologies in realistic scenarios. The FirstNet network is used at these exercises to test the full ecosystem of public safety devices and services in disaster conditions. READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Nov 9, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
Sacramento County Behavioral Health Services is seeking community input on alternatives to calling 911 in a behavioral health or quality of life crisis. The public is invited to provide comments sharing their thoughts and suggestions in this online survey. The survey will be available online through Friday, Nov. 13.The Alternatives to 911 pilot program stemmed from a Board of Supervisors discussion in September budget hearings… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Nov 6, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
As is the case with all technologies, the systems underpinning the emergency telephone number used in the North American Numbering Plan have evolved since 911 was introduced more than 50 years ago.
Original 911 services, for example, didn’t have the ability to automatically detect the owners of the calling phone number — nor the address they were calling from. That changed in 1999, when the federal government mandated Enhanced 911, or E911. Today, however, E911 has again fallen behind the times in two important areas. Let’s look at those shortcomings and examine how Next Generation 911 (NG911) standards solve them as they bring emergency services up to modern technology levels… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Nov 5, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
Welcome to November 2020. The election is finally behind us, Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc in the United States, and the number of wildfires, major storms, and hurricanes continue to make our first responders’ work even more essential. When FirstNet was created in February of 2012, it was a result of the public-safety community having banded together across disciplines. The Public Safety Alliance (PSA) sought and received support from a variety of organizations including Governors, Mayors, and most Land Mobile Radio (LMR) vendors…
by AllThingsECC.com | Nov 5, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
Encouraging the development of solutions that address unique public-safety coverage solutions and enhance mission-critical voice, data and video communications are among the focus areas highlighted the recently updated FirstNet Authority Roadmap that outlines strategic technological priorities for the FirstNet system.
Last month’s release represents the first update to the Roadmap, which was created last year as a strategic document that is designed to help identify development priorities for the FirstNet system…
by AllThingsECC.com | Nov 3, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
The Defense Department is looking to overhaul its public safety communications ecosystem.
The legacy public safety solutions DOD currently uses will be upgraded to the IP-based commercial technologies currently used by state and local government responders for routing for 911 calls, according to an Oct. 28 request for information…
